A/HRC/10/61 page 7 II. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS A. Climate change, environmental harm and human rights 16. An increase in global average temperatures of approximately 2° C will have major, and predominantly negative, effects on ecosystems across the globe, on the goods and services they provide. Already today, climate change is among the most important drivers of ecosystem changes, along with overexploitation of resources and pollution.15 Moreover, global warming will exacerbate the harmful effects of environmental pollution, including higher levels of ground-level ozone in urban areas. In view of such effects, which have implications for a wide range of human rights, it is relevant to discuss the relationship between human rights and the environment. 17. Principle 1 of the 1972 Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (the Stockholm Declaration) states that there is “a fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being”. The Stockholm Declaration reflects a general recognition of the interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights and the environment.16 18. While the universal human rights treaties do not refer to a specific right to a safe and healthy environment, the United Nations human rights treaty bodies all recognize the intrinsic link between the environment and the realization of a range of human rights, such as the right to life, to health, to food, to water, and to housing.17 The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that States parties shall take appropriate measures to combat disease and malnutrition “through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution”.18 15 See Millennium Ecosystems Assessment 2005, Ecosystems and Human Well-being, Synthesis, pp. 67 and 79. 16 A joint seminar on human rights and the environment organized by OHCHR and UNEP in 2002 also documented a growing recognition of the connection between human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development (see E/CN.4/2002/WP.7). 17 ILO Convention No. 169 (1989) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries provides for special protection of the environment of the areas which indigenous peoples occupy or otherwise use. At the regional level, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the San Salvador Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights recognize the right to live in a healthy or satisfactory environment. Moreover, many national constitutions refer to a right to an environment of a certain quality. 18 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), art. 24, para. 2 (c).