A/HRC/29/19 In Bangladesh, climate change was estimated to cause the loss of between 2 and 3 per cent of gross domestic product per annum. This had a real impact on the enjoyment of human rights, particularly for the most vulnerable. 19. Mr. Ali said that it was necessary to increase resilience and improve coping mechanisms. By focusing on impacts on the poorest communities, peoples and countries, the human rights perspective offered a way forward in addressing the existential threat posed by climate change. Its magnitude varied across countries, communities and peoples according to their geographic location, wealth and other factors, raising questions of fairness and equity. In the developing world, there were limited resources for prevention, mitigation and adaptation measures. Despite this, Bangladesh had taken several measures. It had installed around 4 million solar home systems and more than 1 million improved cooking stoves, had developed stress tolerant crop varieties and had mobilized over 385 million dollars in domestic resources for adaptation and mitigation measures. 20. However, he said, this was not sufficient. States must recognize their shared responsibility to address climate change and its impacts, including by advancing the discussion on human rights and climate change in the Council and other forums. The international community must step up its commitments and actions to address climate change so that the silent millions who faced its worst impacts could survive. Mr. Ali hoped that the voice of 160 million Bangladeshis, many of whom lived in low-lying coastal areas, would be heard by the Council. 21. The President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, Mary Robinson, stated that climate change had real impacts on the enjoyment of human rights and that time was running out to avoid further impacts. She said that, in 2015, the international community had before it a unique opportunity to set a new path for sustainable development on the basis of alternatives to fossil fuels that would ensure the rights of generations to come. Such a change must be climate just and ensure full participation of all countries regardless of their current levels of emissions and development. Climate change, more than any other issue, highlighted our interdependence. No country could alone protect its citizens from the impacts of climate change, which meant that the international community must work together to address the challenges that climate change posed for the realization of human rights, especially the right to development. 22. Ms. Robinson said that, in the future, society would have to employ low-carbon technologies, guarantee decent work for all, promote equality, build sustainable cities and preserve vital ecosystems. A human rights-based approach to development should focus on fulfilling for all persons the minimum conditions necessary for a life of human dignity. Faced with climate change, persons in vulnerable situations must have their rights protected, be given access to measures of adaptation and resilience and receive the support of the international community. A rights-based response should also maximize inclusion, participation and equality. 23. Ms. Robinson advocated for a renewed focus on good practices and the use of human rights obligations, standards and principles to inform and strengthen national policymaking in climate change. The Foundation had identified 12 countries that actively linked human rights and climate change in policymaking in their national reports to both the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Human Rights Council; however, she said, more work was required to learn from those experiences and scale up good practices. There was also a need to bring climate change negotiators and human rights experts together to collaborate more closely. Ms. Robinson called for the creation of a forum under the Convention and the Council for the sharing of experiences and good practices, in order for the human rights community to prepare guidelines for the integration of human rights in climate change policymaking – noting that the Geneva Pledge was encouraging this to happen at the national level – and for States to 6