Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights - Weathering the storm: poverty, climate change and social protection
During the fifty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council, the report A/HRC/59/51 titled 'Weathering the storm: poverty, climate change and social protection' was published by Oliver De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
The report opens with an initial overview of the environmental situation characterized by extreme climate conditions and disasters such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, storms and wildfires that are becoming the normality all over the world, while the low-income countries and the most marginalised and impoverished communities have to face the heaviest consequences.This happening in a context marked by political abandonment and institutions that do not engage in pursuing truly efficient measures.
The Special Rapporteur advocates for a move from a solely humanitarian approach to protecting people in poverty from climate disasters, towards establishing, strengthening and financing rights-based social protection, this being the most effective long-term tool for increasing people’s ability to withstand and recover from climate-related shocks.
The report is structured into several chapters and addresses a range of topics, from the impact of environmental disasters to the financial aid required to tackle them.
It argues that climate change is having disproportionate consequences on people living in poverty, especially in low-income countries, despite them having benefited the least from the industrial revolution and contributing the least to carbon emissions. They face double injustice and dual disproportionality without having the means to protect themselves.
It calls for strengthening social protection systems as the most effective way to build resilience and help the poor withstand and recover from climate shocks like droughts, floods, and extreme weather events.
However, progress is hampered by a lack of financing in low-income countries. The report estimates an annual financing gap of $308.5 billion for providing universal social protection in these countries and an increasing lack of resources.
It criticizes the breakdown of international solidarity, with declining aid budgets and trends like the U.S. suspending foreign aid, undermining support for social protection in poor countries. The report calls for increased international solidarity and innovative financing mechanisms like a "global fund for social protection" to support low-income countries establish legally-binding, rights-based social protection systems.
It explores various financing options like increasing ODA, debt swaps, reallocating Special Drawing Rights, global taxes/levies on areas like financial transactions, aviation, shipping etc.
Eventually the Special Rapporteur urges Governments to take a powerful stand against current attempts to derail the international order that is based on the Charter of the United Nations by supporting low-income countries to establish robust social protection, crucial for climate adaptation. However it requires renewed global cooperation and innovative financing to make it a reality for the world's poorest.