A/HRC/31/52 Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change, adopted by representatives of small island developing States in November 2007. The Male’ Declaration was the first intergovernmental statement explicitly recognizing that climate change has “clear and immediate implications for the full enjoyment of human rights”, including the rights to life, to an adequate standard of living and to the highest attainable standard of health. The Declaration requested the Human Rights Council to convene a debate on human rights and climate change, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to study the effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights, and the Conference of the Parties to seek the cooperation of OHCHR and the Council in assessing the human rights implications of climate change. 8. In March 2008, the Human Rights Council adopted its first resolution on climate change and human rights. In its resolution 7/23, the Council expressed its concern that climate change poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world and has implications for the full enjoyment of human rights. The resolution requested OHCHR to conduct a detailed analytical study of the relationship. 9. After receiving input from Governments, civil society organizations and others, OHCHR published a report describing how climate change threatens the enjoyment of a wide range of human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water, adequate housing and self-determination (A/HRC/10/61). The report did not conclude that climate change necessarily violates human rights law, but it stressed that States nevertheless have obligations to take steps to protect human rights from the harmful effects of climate change. 10. In March 2009, in its resolution 10/4, the Council again noted that climate changerelated impacts have a range of implications for the effective enjoyment of human rights, and stated that the effects will be felt most acutely by those who are already in vulnerable situations. The Council also affirmed that “human rights obligations and commitments have the potential to inform and strengthen international and national policymaking in the area of climate change, promoting policy coherence, legitimacy and sustainable outcomes”. 11. In December 2009, at the beginning of the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Copenhagen, 20 mandate holders issued a joint statement emphasizing that climate change poses serious threats to the full enjoyment of a broad range of human rights, warning that a weak outcome of the negotiations would threaten to infringe upon those rights and stating that mitigation and adaptation measures should be developed in accordance with human rights norms, including with the participation of affected communities.1 12. At its sixteenth session, in Cancun in December 2010, the Conference of the Parties adopted a decision quoting the statements in Human Rights Council resolution 10/4 that the adverse effects of climate change have a range of implications for the effective enjoyment of human rights and that the effects will be felt most acutely by those segments of the population that are already vulnerable. The decision stated that “Parties should, in all climate change related actions, fully respect human rights” (decision 1/CP.16, para. 8, FCCC/CP/2010/7/Add.1). 13. Since then, the Human Rights Council has adopted three more resolutions on climate change.2 In addition to reiterating concerns about the effects of climate change on human rights, particularly those of the most vulnerable, the resolutions have stated that climate change has contributed to the increase of sudden-onset natural disasters and slow1 2 4 Available from www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID =9667&LangID=E. Resolutions 18/22, 26/27 and 29/15.