Access to information is necessary to support the resilience and adaptive capacities of people in vulnerable situations to respond to the adverse impacts of climate change; and for all to contribute to holistic, effective and inclusive decisions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Such information must include climate change sources and effects, including on biodiversity and ecosystem services, weather and natural disaster patterns, as well as on impacts on human health, mobility, labour, social, economic and cultural rights, and the right to a healthy environment, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine contexts. 

This blog post reflects on the ocean-related findings of the second thematic report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights, Elisa Morgera. The One Ocean Hub made a submission to the report, which was prepared by Senia Febrica (University of Strathclyde, UK), John Windie Ansah (University of Cape Coast, Ghana), Sulley Ibrahim (University of Cape Coast, Ghana), and Buhle Francis (Centre for Integrated Post-School  Education and  Training (CIPSET), Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. 

Integrating the ocean in information on climate change and human rights 

The report underscores that existing approaches are insufficient for the public to assess the magnitude of actual and potential negative human rights risks and impacts of climate change and response measures, and the adequacy of States’ and businesses’ responses to effectively protect and respect human rights in the context of climate change. The Rapporteur therefore calls for ensuring timely access to high-quality, trustworthy, evidenced-based and accessible information on climate change and human rights, including in relation to the ocean-climate nexus. 

Among several key sources of information, the report underscores that States should collect and share information with the public from climate vulnerability assessments, which should consider climate hazards, species sensitivity and the socioeconomic vulnerability of sectors and regions, including displacement and migration patterns, and human health impacts. They should also consider ecosystems, livelihood assets and productive infrastructure, plant and animal health, effects on agriculture, fisheries and other climate-sensitive industries, including changes in productivity and income levels, and landscape degradation, in order to identify the most suitable adaptation actions for different regions and sectors. The One Ocean Hub has conducted inter-disciplinary research in the context of community-led climate vulnerability assessments, with a focus on the fisheries sector and the human rights of small-scale fishers. 

The report also reflected on the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, recalling that the Tribunal indicated that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, States have obligations to:  

•observe, measure, evaluate and analyse the risks or effects of pollution of the marine environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions;  

•monitor the risks or effects of pollution; publish reports and conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) as a means to address marine pollution from anthropogenic GHG emissions; 

•observe, measure, evaluate and analyse the risks or effects of pollution of the marine environment from anthropogenic GHG emissions;  

•keep under continuing surveillance the effects of activities they have permitted, or in which they are engaged, in order to determine whether such activities are likely to pollute the marine environment through anthropogenic GHG emissions; and  

•publish the results obtained from monitoring the risks or effects of pollution from anthropogenic GHG emissions or communicating them to the competent international organisations for their dissemination.  

These considerations are also relevant for the provisions on EIAs and SEAs under the BBNJ Agreement, as underscored in Hub research.  

The role of ocean science 

The report also indicated that it essential to fill gaps and connect sources of information across different sectors and levels of government, as well as across civil society, the research community and international organisations on climate change sources and effects, including on biodiversity and ecosystem services, impacts on human health, social, economic and cultural rights, and the right to a healthy environment in terrestrial, freshwater and marine contexts.  

Relevant for the UN Ocean Science Decade, the Rapporteur indicates that it is imperative to identify and respond – locally, nationally, regionally and internationally – to the greatest need for progress in knowledge production and information-sharing, in order to protect human rights in the context of climate change, prioritising those in vulnerable and marginalised situations.  

Information on the risks for the ocean arising from climate change response measures 

Access to information is also acutely needed about the experimenting, testing and deployment of climate mitigation technologies, notably geo-engineering, and about the early identification of potential risks to human life or health, serious and effectively irreversible impacts on the environment, and inequitable impacts on present or future generations. Risk assessments should account for the limited existing research on the social and cultural impacts of carbon capture, storage or removal technologies, with marine carbon dioxide removal lagging behind in particular, and for the dependence of cost-benefit analysis on access to expensive global climate change monitoring and modelling. 

International human rights experts have also underlined the importance of gathering and sharing information on the quantity and priorities of climate finance projects and just transition programs, including deep-sea mining activities, with accessible, accurate, credible and timely data to evaluate the effects of these programs on climate change and human rights, and enable access to remedy and combat corruption within public authorities and business. More generally, States should gather and disclose information on public budgets allocated to the fight against climate change, as well as subsidies to fossil fuels and other high-emitting activities. 

Access to information is acutely needed on carbon credits, considering human rights and environmental concerns, which is relevant for the ongoing discussions on blue carbon. Concerns include: calculations of carbon capture; expected local impacts on land and waters, tenure rights and other human rights; confirmation of consent of all impacted communities, including free prior informed consent of Indigenous peoples; revenue throughout the project life-cycle, including the sale price of carbon credits; distribution of revenue and other benefits to the project developer, national and local governments, and impacted communities; and the identity and purpose of those buying credits associated with the project, including whether credits are being used to offset preventable emissions.

States should collect and share this information systematically to allow credit buyers to easily understand the potential risks of the credit they are purchasing. Equally States should monitor the use of technologies (remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and digital platforms) to measure carbon storage and to issue and trade carbon credits, because the underlying models require the collection and use of data that is not controlled by communities.  

International collaboration 

The Special Rapporteur underscored that international collaboration on ensuring access to information on climate chance and human rights should extend also to information on critical biodiversity and ecosystem services that contribute to mitigation and adaptation, and to health, food and other basic needs related to economic, social and cultural rights, and the wellbeing of the population, especially those in vulnerable and marginalised situations. States should ensure that these obligations are upheld in the context of relevant international organisations, particularly those that have raised concerns about limited access to information on decision-making and the underlying evidence base, such as the International Seabed Authority and the International Maritime Organisation. 

Once again, the report drew on the ITLOS Advisory Opinion, which indicated that States must cooperate to promote studies, undertake scientific research, and encourage the exchange of information and data on marine pollution from anthropogenic GHG emissions, its pathways, risks and remedies, including mitigation and adaptation measures, on the basis of which States should then cooperate in the formulation and elaboration of rules, standards and recommended practices and procedures in the context of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, as well as other fora.  

The Rapporteur recommended that the UN System should identify gaps, opportunities for further integration and interoperability, and areas for collaboration, including with civil society and the research community, on information on climate change sources and effects in terrestrial, freshwater and marine contexts. She also recommended enhancing collaboration in the context of One Health on an integrated evidence base to consider more systematically and explicitly the impacts of climate change and proposed and ongoing response measures on human rights. Finally, the Rapporteur stressed the importance of supporting the integration of the information on human rights and climate change in education initiatives, which chimes with the Hub research on ocean literacies. 

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Photo: Francesco Ungaro (Pexels)