A/HRC/38/21 to an adequate water supply. 13 When people lack access to food, water and other necessities, in order to survive, they may attempt to move internally or across borders. The failure of Governments to undertake effective climate change mitigation and adaptation can be an additional push factor for mobility and can exacerbate the situation of the most vulnerable persons who are unable to move. Sometimes, mitigation and adaptation measures themselves can adversely affect the enjoyment of human rights and drive human movement.14 For instance, some hydroelectric and biofuel projects have resulted in forced evictions, and the planned relocation of those exposed to the adverse effects of climate change involves high risks of human rights harms. 11. As OHCHR confirmed in its study on the slow-onset effects of climate change and human rights protection for cross-border migrants, including its regional case studies on South Asia, the Sahel, the Pacific islands and Central America, climate change-related cross-border movement is most likely to involve movements between developing countries.15 The study makes the qualitative case that climate change can drive cross-border movement. It describes, for example, how cross-border movement serves a critical adaptive function for those facing drought and desertification in the Sahel 16 and is also an adaptive response in Pacific island States endangered by rising sea levels and the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. 17 12. Available data on cross-border movement related to natural disasters further reveals the potential scope of such climate change-related movement, highlighting the need for improved data collection. For example, in 2011, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that, 290,000 Somalis would flee across the border into neighbouring countries, mainly to Ethiopia and Kenya, while more than 1.3 million were estimated to have been internally displaced; such movements could be connected to drought, famine, ongoing conflict, insecurity and human rights violations. 18 Similarly, in 2009, after Cyclone Aila, it was reported that thousands of Bangladeshis had moved to India.19 Those examples illustrate that the adverse effects of climate change may contribute, along with other factors, to both internal and cross-border movement, which threatens the enjoyment of human rights. B. Human rights risks posed by climate change-related human mobility 13. As the Human Rights Council stated in its resolution 35/20, the adverse effects of climate change are felt most acutely by those segments of the population that are already in vulnerable situations owing to factors such as geography, poverty, gender, age, indigenous or minority status, national or social origin, birth or other status and disability. Climate change poses an existential threat to inhabitants of small island-states and low-lying coastal countries, to millions of people facing hunger in Africa, and to countless others who have contributed so little to its causes, yet find themselves at risk. 20 For example, according to 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 See A/HRC/10/61, para. 29. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/SlowOnset/A_HRC_37_CRP_4.pdf. See B. Mayer, “The International Legal Challenges of Climate-Induced Migration: Proposal for an International Legal Framework”, in Columbia Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy, vol. 22, No. 3 p. 397 (2011); and German Advisory Council on Climate Change, Climate Change as a Security Risk (Berlin, 2008), p. 118. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/SlowOnset/A_HRC_37_CRP_4.pdf; and World Bank, Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal (Washington, D.C., 2014), p. 144. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/SlowOnset/A_HRC_37_CRP_4.pdf; and Nansen Initiative, “Human Mobility, Natural Disasters and Climate Change in the Pacific” (2013). See UNHCR Global Report on Somalia (2011). Available at www.unhcr.org/publications/fundraising/4fc880a70/unhcr-global-report-2011-somalia.html. See Nansen Initiative, “Climate Change, Disasters, and Human Mobility in South Asia and Indian Ocean” (2015), p. 14. According to one 2015 estimate, roughly 95 per cent of internal displacement over the previous several years had occurred in developing countries. See Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, “Global Estimates 2015: People displaced by disasters” (Geneva, 2015), p. 9. Available at 5