A/HRC/20/7 mitigation techniques must still respect the human rights of vulnerable populations. Nonetheless, investments in these rural areas for the production of biofuels as part of a broad strategy to address climate change have frequently failed to ensure the protection of the region’s impoverished citizens, particularly as pertains to food security. These examples demonstrate that well-intentioned attempts to address climate change may fail to achieve their objective of protecting vulnerable populations. Accordingly, the panellists observed that a human rights-based approach is essential to addressing the adverse effects of climate change while ensuring that the threats facing vulnerable persons are not unnecessarily compounded. 23. The panellists asserted that a human rights-based approach to climate change is also pragmatically necessary because litigation alone is not working. It is well understood that climate change affects a whole range of human rights. States are legally obligated to respect these human rights under customary international law and through treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Nevertheless, efforts to invoke environmental legal obligations have not created the tangible results necessary to be a sufficient solution. Two petitions before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asserting human rights claims stemming from climate change have garnered significant attention. Nonetheless, such claims face significant jurisdictional limits due to the extraterritorial nature of climate change and the inability of regional courts to bind non-state actors. 24. The panellists concluded that a human rights-based approach should inform all policies related to climate change. This includes not only humanitarian responses, but also mitigation and adaptation policies. Because responses to the impacts of climate change have primarily been knowledge-driven, the panellists further recommended that the human rights-based approach should be anticipatory by promoting disaster and risk reduction awareness. 25. To supplement these general conclusions, the panellists in Session 1 provided concrete steps for addressing the impacts of climate change on human rights. The panellists noted that several special-procedure mandate holders, including the Special Rapporteurs on the human rights of migrants, the right to adequate housing, the right to food, and the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, have all considered the impacts of climate change from the perspective of their mandates. Encouraging all existing mandate holders to consider the impacts of climate change on human rights will further illustrate these linkages and aid in mainstreaming the understanding that climate change is a human rights issue. Additionally, the panellists indicated that certain international instruments, such as the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, would serve as useful guidelines when developing policy solutions as well as mitigation and adaptation strategies. C. Session 2: International cooperation and respect for human rights in all climate change-related situations 26. Session 2 focused on the status of international cooperation and respect for human rights in all situations relating to climate change. The moderator of the session was Idriss Jazairy, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Algeria, and the rapporteur was Mario Vega, Minister Counsellor for the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica. The panellists for this session included Virginia Dandan, Independent Expert on international solidarity; José Riera, Senior Adviser to the Director, Division of International Protection, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); Shahidul Haque, Director of International Cooperation and Partnerships at the International Organization for Migration (IOM); Renate Christ, Secretary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); 8