From Copenhagen to Cancun: a changing climate for human rights in the UNFCCC?

This legal brief recognizes the potential consequences of climate change on human rights recognized in international law and the obligation of States to take all appropriate means to avoid and mitigate harmful climate change as well as to assist vulnerable communities in adapting to its consequences. It analyses the developments in the treatment accorded to human rights in the context of the negotiations of the text on Long-Term Cooperative Action (LCA text) since the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Copenhagen in December 2009 to the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Cancun in November/December 2010.