Introduction
It is widely understood and acknowledged that climate change arises as a consequence of the massive
emission of greenhouse gases, and therefore no one doubts that mitigation strategies must be led by
the energy transition. However, it is rarely explained that the main socio-economic impacts are
generated around water. Therefore, adaptation strategies must be based on a hydrological transition
that strengthens environmental and social resilience in the face of climate change. On the one hand, it is
urgent to recover the health of wetlands and underground aquifers - true natural lungs of the water
cycle - which can and should be strategic reserves for increasingly severe droughts. On the other hand, it
is a matter of strengthening democratic governance of water and sanitation services as well as aquatic
ecosystems in the face of these droughts, with adaptation plans that prioritize the human rights to
drinking water and sanitation, particularly for those living in poverty and vulnerable situations and that
have been adapted and implemented with the participation of the affected population.
The current report is part of three special thematic reports issued by the Special Rapporteur on the
human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. It serves as an intermittent report between the
Special Rapporteur's report to the 48th session of the Human Rights Council in September 2021,
focused on his plans and vision for the mandate (A/HRC/48/50) and his next report to the 51st session
of the Human Rights Council in September 2022. The current report aims to outline how climate change
will impact the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, and to describe the main trends in
those impacts by region. The second report explores the impacts of climate change on the human rights
to safe drinking water and sanitation of specific groups, and the third outlines a human rights approach
to climate adaptation, mitigation, financing and cooperation.
Introduction
1
Climate change and human rights
2
Climate change and water and sanitation
2
Climate change and the human rights to water and sanitation
3
The impacts of climate change on
water and sanitation
4
Changing patterns of precipitation, Droughts
4
Floods, Deglaciation
5
Rising temperatures, Sea-level rise
6
Groundwater storage, Ecosystem degradation
7
Impacts of climate change on the human rights
to water and sanitation by region
8
Sub-regional areas with specific vulnerabilities
8
Africa
9
Asia
10
South and Central America
11
Europe, Australasia
12
North America
13
1