A/HRC/31/52 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 1 February 2016 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-first session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment Note by the Secretariat The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, John H. Knox, on the human rights obligations relating to climate change. In this report, he describes the increasing attention paid to the relationship between climate change and human rights in recent years, reviews the effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights and outlines the application of human rights obligations to climate-related actions. He explains that States have procedural and substantive obligations relating to climate change, as well as duties to protect the rights of the most vulnerable. GE.16-01323(E) *1601323*