A/HRC/29/19 justice for those who had contributed the least to climate change. All should show through their actions that they understood their mutual interdependence and were prepared to defend the rights of the most vulnerable. Mr. Tveit advocated for action as an expression of hope for the future, for next generations, for Earth and for humanity. 63. The General Coordinator of La Via Campesina, Elizabeth Mpofu, drew attention to the need to give voice to the voiceless in the discussion of climate change. She said that she represented over 200 million marginalized people, including peasants and fishermen. She demanded that those voices be heard and that the international community take the impacts of climate change more seriously, noting that her speech on behalf of the voiceless and the vulnerable represented by La Via Campesina merited more than a mere five-minute presentation. 64. As a practicing woman farmer from Zimbabwe, she had witnessed first-hand the impacts of climate change on human rights, particularly the rights to life, food, health, housing, education, self-determination, development and water and sanitation. She had seen the abdication of State responsibilities to protect human rights in favour of corporate interests. She said that companies had engaged in unsustainable and indefensible practices, including land-grabbing, excessive exploitation of mineral resources, over-reliance on fossil fuels and destruction of nature and livelihoods. The most vulnerable populations, including indigenous peoples, peasants and women, had suffered the greatest impacts of these actions. Many had been displaced from their lands to make way for corporations. 65. Developed countries that had contributed the most to climate change had imposed a huge burden on developing countries and refused to take responsibility. Faced with the harsh impacts of climate change, many developing countries had been forced to shift financial and human resources from development priorities like health, education and agrarian support to confront the new challenges. In extreme cases, food insecurity caused by drought or floods resulting from climate change had virtually paralysed some developing countries and reversed critical development gains. Meanwhile, developed countries, through their trade and investment negotiations and even their efforts to mitigate climate change through the mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, had further perpetuated human rights abuses and land-grabs and prioritized the interests of the few over those of the many. For example, biofuels and export crops had been favoured over locally grown and consumed food. Forests were being taken away from indigenous peoples who relied on them for their livelihoods, shelter, balanced diets and way of life. People were losing their right to self-determination. Ms. Mpofu asked if this was justice. 66. The Permanent Representative in Geneva of FoodFirst Information and Action Network International, Ana-Maria Suarez Franco, argued that the international community must ensure the primacy of human rights across international legal regimes. Human rights must be integrated in the climate change discussion. Climate change was affecting the enjoyment of the right to food and nutrition through several means, including droughts, desertification, tropical diseases and ocean acidification. Persons displaced by climate change impacts may not have access to sufficient, acceptable and healthy food. In its 2007/2008 report on climate change, 3 the United Nations Development Programme estimated that climate change would render an additional 600 million people at risk of experiencing hunger by 2080. It would disproportionately affect peasants, indigenous 3 14 United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2006: Fighting climate change – Human solidarity in a divided world (Basingstoke, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).