A/HRC/16/62 development through, inter alia, addressing problems of environmental pollution and degradation. She also reported on the International Solidarity Conference on Climate Change Strategies for Africa and Mediterranean Regions held in Tunis in November 2007, and its declaration, which stressed the role of civil society in implementing adaptation measures, eradicating poverty and promoting development in the most vulnerable countries. Further, the Tunis declaration consolidated the national commitment to a human rightsbased approach to climate change, and confirmed the commitment of Tunisia to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Declaration on the Right to Development. 20. Angie Dazé, a representative of CARE International, noted that CARE focused on community-based adaptation, which incorporated the promotion of climate-resilient livelihoods, disaster risk reduction strategies, capacity development for local civil society and governmental institutions, and advocacy, social mobilization and empowerment to address the underlying causes of vulnerability. She emphasized the importance of gender aspects in adaptation, noting that gender inequality was an underlying cause of vulnerability to climate change, and that adaptive capacity was strongly influenced by roles, rights, power relations and access to/control over resources. CARE supported women and men in accessing the resources, rights and opportunities they needed for adaptation, empowered vulnerable women to build their adaptive capacity, and promoted gender equality as a longterm goal. Experience had shown that women were central to finding solutions, and that women had important knowledge for adaptation but often lacked the resources or power to use it. Ms. Dazé reported on an activity in Bangladesh which addressed livelihoods security and power issues, and where women reported more confidence in speaking out in public, and negotiating with their husbands on household decisions. In Ghana, adaptation was integrated into local planning processes, while women received training and mentoring to take on leadership roles in the community and to participate in the designing and implementation of the policies by addressing gender-based discrimination in the society. 21. Alice Thomas, Climate Displacement Program Manager of Refugees International, centred her intervention on a recent mission to Pakistan, examining the impacts of the floods on displacement which had affected an estimated 20 million Pakistanis and damaged or destroyed an estimated 1.8 million homes. She stressed the importance of putting in place mechanisms and procedures to ensure the protection of human rights of affected populations when disaster strikes, in addition to investing in disaster risk reduction planning. Governments were likely to need significant support from the humanitarian community in responding to disasters of that scale, which must be prepared to quickly and effectively respond to requests for assistance. She highlighted the challenge that the sheer magnitude of displacement across Pakistan presented to ensuring the rights of affected populations to voluntary return and resettlement. The floods also demonstrated how natural disasters could lead to secondary emergencies that also affected human rights, for example impact on agriculture and the threat of an impending food crisis. They were also a reminder of the impacts of climate change on the human rights of the most vulnerable groups, including tenant farmers, women who faced difficulties in accessing assistance, Afghan refugees and IDPs who had recently returned to rebuild their lives. Climate change threatened to exacerbate conflict and insecurity, and led to increased migration. 22. The above presentations were followed by an interactive debate with interventions by representatives of China, Cuba, the Philippines and Nepal, by representatives of the Center for International Environmental Law, Nord-Sud XXI, International Disability Alliance, International Movement ATD Fourth World, and by Mr. Pillay. The adverse impacts of climate change on human rights were reaffirmed, as was the fact that women and persons with disabilities were more vulnerable. Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was a new guidepost in these situations, serving as a link between humanitarian and human rights issues in requiring that persons with disabilities be 8