A/70/287 Climate Change for the first time in its assessments included a section on food security in the Fifth Assessment Report. Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention states that ecosystems must be allowed sufficient time to adapt naturally to climate change so as to “ensure that food production is not threatened”. Several international organizations have also acknowledged the link between food security and climate change. Nevertheless, the inclusion of a rights -based approach to food security has yet to be realized. 51. As early as 1999, in its general comment No. 12, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights acknowledged that “even where a State faces severe resource constraints, whether caused by a process of economic adjustment, economic recession, climatic conditions or other factors, measures should be undertaken to ensure that the right to adequate food is especially fulfilled for vulnerable population groups and individuals”. In accordance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, most States accept the responsibility for fulfilling the right to food, designing and implementing policies that support its progressive realization and ensure access to adequate food. In the context of climate change, States must avoid policies and actions that undermine people’s ability to produce their own food or to access food for themselves and their families. 46 52. States must also endeavour to support policies that limit and overcome negative effects on the right to food. A human rights framework requires all States to seek to reduce harmful emissions into the global atmosphere, with a view to reducing their negative effect on the enjoyment of human rights. In addition, in its statement on the world food crisis (E/C.12/2008/1), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights pressed States parties to adopt “strategies to combat global climate change that do not negatively affect the right to adequate food and freedom from hunger, but rather promote sustainable agriculture ”. This statement is in harmony with article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Unfortunately, while it does mention the strategies that States should employ to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies, the United Nations Framework Convention refers to the use of “appropriate methods” to minimize “adverse effects on the economy, on public health and on the quality of the environment” (art. 4 (1) (f), rather than referencing human rights. 53. Since 2008, the Human Rights Council has regularly highlighted the negative implications of climate change on human rights. Furthermore, at the re quest of the Council, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) presented a report in 2009 that addressed the adverse effects of climate change on specific rights, including the direct relationship between the right to adequate food and climate change (A/HRC/10/61, paras. 25-27). The Council reiterated the negative impact of climate change on the right to food in subsequent resolutions adopted in 2009, 2011, 2014 and, most recently, in June 2015. 47 54. In 2010, the States parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, citing Human Rights Council resolution 10/4, agreed, in the __________________ 46 47 14/25 Olivier De Schutter, Mary Robinson and Tara Shine, “Human rights: their role in achieving climate justice and food and nutrition security”, paper presented at the conference entitled “Hunger, nutrition, climate justice 2013 — A new dialogue: putting people at the heart of global development”, Dublin, 15-16 April 2013. Resolutions 10/4, 18/22, 26/27 and 29/15. 15-10041

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