POSITION PAPER OF THE INGOS’1
CONFERENCE OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
ON “CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN
RIGHTS”
WORKING GROUP ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
OF THE NGO’S COMMISSION “DEMOCRACY, SOCIAL COHESION AND GLOBAL CHALLENGES”
ANNEXES
Introduction
Over the coming decades, climate change is likely to significantly alter human and
environmental systems leading to significant changes in the conditions faced. The
consequences will be wide-ranging.
Discussion on climate change impacts has predominantly focused on the basic
science, energy sources, ecosystems and the economics of taking action. The
overlaps and interactions with people and their essential needs are rarely taken into
account. Yet these impacts are likely to be of great consequence, as they amplify the
effects and restrict response options.2 Human considerations must be taken into
account to ensure the development of appropriate adaptation strategies.
Mounting evidence, assembled in numerous national and international-level
scientific assessments, strongly indicates that climate change will have broad and
significant impacts on infrastructure and a wide range of sectors. 3 4
However largely missing from the discussion is the threat climate change poses to
agriculture, transportation, water, and energy management food and agriculture,
fresh water, transportation and living spaces The prospective changes in infectious
disease patterns and the consequences of displacement and resource conflict are
also significant. These annexes respond to some of these concerns.
1
INGOs: International NGOs enjoying participatory status at the Council of Europe.
Based on: Kilroy, G. (2014). A review of the biophysical impacts of climate change in three hotspot regions in
Africa and Asia. Regional Environmental Change, 15(5), 771-782
3 Solomon, S. (2007), Climate Change 2007: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press.
4 Karl, T.R.; Melillo, J.M.; Peterson, T.C. (2009) Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States; : Cambridge
UK, Cambridge University Press.
2
ANNEX 1: Changing climate, changing health patterns5
“The global average surface temperature has increased by about 0.74 °C over the
last 100 years. The projected increase for Europe between the end of the 20th and
21st centuries varies from 2.3 °C to 6 °C, depending on the scenario considered.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly from the burning of fossil fuels, are
warming the earth. GHGs have increased by 70% over the last four decades, trapping
more heat in the lower atmosphere. Even if emissions were to halt immediately,
temperatures would still be expected to rise by over 0.6 °C this century. Climate
projections also indicate an increase in incidence of heat waves and extreme events.
It is important to understand and quantify the consequences of all these factors in
terms of health in the next decades.” (Paci, 2014: 5)6
There is growing scientific consensus that climate change will have serious
consequences for human health as recognized in a growing number of research
studies. The WHO estimates that more than 150,000 deaths and 5.5 million
disability-adjusted life years can be attributed to climate change by 2000.7
The effects of climate change on health can be classified into three types 8 9
i) direct impacts, that operate directly on the human organism such as temperaturerelated illnesses and the impacts of extreme weather events.
ii) secondary (indirect) effects via ecosystem alteration and other interactions,
including changes in the distribution and prevalence of diseases (including vectorborne disease) as well as health issues from food and water shortages. 10
iii) tertiary health effects mediated through impacts on social, political, and
economic systems, manifested through heightened risk of conflict 11, increased
migration 12 growing pressures on food production systems and thus food security 13.
The potential risks and side effects of climate change are projected to rise
substantially due to human vulnerability. A warmer and wetter world will have an
5
Submitted by the European Association of Geographers (EUROGEO) to the Working Group Climate Change & Human Rights,
Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges Committee, INGOs’ Conference of the Council of Europe on June 2015.
Written by Professor Karl DONERT (President–EUROGEO).
6 Paci, D. (2014). Human Health Impacts of Climate Change in Europe. Report for the PESETA II project. JRC Scientific and Policy
Reports, 26494. http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC86970.pdf: page 5
7 McMichael AJ, Campbell-Lendrum DH, Kovats S, Edwards S, Wilkinson P, Wilson T, Nicholls R, Hales S, Tanser F, Le Sueur D,
Schlesinger M, Andronova N. Global climate change. In Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Global and Regional Burden
of Disease due to Selected Major Risk Factors, Ezzati M, Lopez A, Rodgers A, Murray C, Eds. World Health Organization,
Geneva;2004:1543–1649.
8 Butler, C. D. (Ed) (2014), Climate Change and Global Health, CABI, Wallingford, UK.
9
McMichael, A. J. (2014). Earth as humans’ habitat: Global climate change and the health of populations. International journal
of health policy and management, 2(1), 9-12.
10 Gething, P. W., D. L. Smith, A. P. Patil, A. J. Tatem, R. W. Snow, and S. I. Hay (2010), Climate change and the global malaria
recession, Nature, 465(7296), 342–345, doi:10.1038/nature09098.
11
Hsiang, S. M., M. Burke, and E. Miguel (2013), Quantifying the influence of climate on human conflict, Science,
doi:10.1126/science.1235367.
12 McMichael, C., J. Barnett, and A. J. McMichael (2012), An ill wind? Climate change, migration, and health, Environ. Health
Perspect., 120(5), 646–654, doi:10.1289/ehp.1104375.
13 Butler, C. D. (2010), Climate change, crop yields, and the future, SCN News, 38, 18–25.
atmosphere packed with more energy. Wider-ranging and stormier weather
extremes are one consequence. Changing environmental conditions created as a
result of rising heat waves and the associated extreme weather events (for instance
flash floods, droughts, heat waves, tsunamis, tropical cyclones) will increase hazards
and loss of life14 as in warmer periods (Roman times and the late medieval period)
when diseases like malaria and yellow fever were widespread in Southern Europe
and leprosy was all over Europe.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), many prevalent human
diseases (e.g., respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular disease) are linked to climate
fluctuations due to heat waves and altered transmissions of infectious diseases15 ike
the arboviruses.16 Parasites that originate in tropical regions migrate to temperate
regions with the spreading of warmer zones. The transmission of diarrhoea, vectorborne and infectious diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses and
malnutrition will be increased.17
Studies estimate that 3.6 billion people are at risk from dengue, with over 230
million infections, millions of cases with dengue fever, over 2 million cases with
severe disease, and 21,000 deaths18. There has been a 30-fold increase in the
number of dengue cases over the past 50 years, with nearly 119 countries endemic
for dengue19. Mosquito vectors of dengue and other arboro-viral diseases have
spread to Europe20.
Climate change will allow diseases such as malaria to spread even further, as
evidenced by recent Dengue Fever and Chikungunya hot-spots identified in several
parts of southern Europe (Northern Mediterranean21, Adriatic and Po Valley22 and
Croatia23). A potentially large geographical area permissive for these diseases in the
future has been identified in Europe.24
14
Kim, K. H., Kabir, E., & Ara Jahan, S. (2014). A review of the consequences of global climate change on human health. Journal
of Environmental Science and Health, Part C, 32(3), 299-318.
15 World Health Organization (2013). Climate change and health; 2013. http://www.who.int/
mediacentre/factsheets/fs266/en/.
16 Reiter, P. (2014). Climate change and mosquito-borne disease: knowing the horse before hitching the cart. Revue scientifique
et technique-Office international des épizooties, 27(2), 382-398.
17 Rahmstorf S. & Coumou D. (2011) Increase of extreme events in a warming world. Proc. National Academy of Sciences
USA;108:17905–17909.
18 Gubler DJ (2012), The economic burden of dengue, Am J Trop Med Hyg 2012, 86:743-744.
19
World
Health
Organisation
(2015):
Global
Alert
and
Response
(GAR)
Impact
of
dengue,
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/dengue/impact/en/
20
World Health Organisation (2015), Dengue control, http://www.who.int/denguecontrol/en/
21 La Ruche G, Souares Y, Armengaud A, Peloux-Petiot F, Delaunay P, Despres P, Lenglet A, Jourdain F, Leparc-Goffart I, Charlet
F, Ollier L, Mantey K, Mollet T, Fournier JP, Torrents R, Leitmeyer K, Hilairet P, Zeller H, Van Bortel W, Dejour-Salamanca D,
Grandadam M, Gastellu-Etchegorry M: First two autochthonous dengue virus infections in metropolitan France, September
2010. Euro Surveill 2010, 15:19676
22 Angelini R, Finarelli AC, Angelini P, Po C, Petropulacos K, Macini P, Fiorentini C, Fortuna C, Venturi G, Romi R, Majori G,
Nicoletti L, Rezza G, Cassone A: An outbreak of chikungunya fever in the province of Ravenna, Italy, Euro Surveill 2007, 12:
23 Gjenero-Margan I, Aleraj B, Krajcar D, Lesnikar V, Klobucar A, Pem-Novosel I, Kurecic-Filipovic S, Komparak S, Martic R, Duricic
S, Betica-Radic L, Okmadzic J, Vilibic-Cavlek T, Babic-Erceg A, Turkovic B, Avsic-Zupanc T, Radic I, Ljubic M, Sarac K, Benic N,
Mlinaric-Galinovic G: (2010), Autochthonous dengue fever in Croatia, August-September 2010, Euro
Surveill 2011, 16:pii=19805.
24
Bouzid, M., Colón-González, F. J., Lung, T., Lake, I. R., & Hunter, P. R. (2014). Climate change and the emergence of vectorborne diseases in Europe: case study of dengue fever. BMC public health, 14(1), 781.
The indirect effects of climate change also includes mental health problems that can
persist over extended periods due loss of homes, livelihoods, economic instability,
and forced migration.25 26 Climate change is also suspected to exert a potential
impact on cancer both directly by an increased exposure to suspected carcinogenic
toxic chemicals due to heavy rainfall and volatilization of chemicals and indirectly in
the form of mitigation strategies.27
The additional demands on the capacity of health systems need to be noted, as
future demands from climate change will impact on socioeconomic systems. The
adaptation of the European health authorities and planning for greater health
system flexibility is increasingly important. Associated poverty and migration limit
access to health systems. 28 Food shortages, falling economic activity, and failing
government legitimacy following climate change are also “risk multipliers” for
conflict29 and increase the burden on health systems.
Although it is very simplistic to attribute the cause of increased health impacts
exclusively to climate change, it is important to recognize that health requirements
in the future will change and that underlying climate change will amplify the
situation and decrease the capacity of health systems to meet rising demands, in
ways that reduce relative health system funding, functioning, and flexibility 30.
Recommendations






25
Call on governments to set the goals of climate change policy to reduce its risks
on health.
Call on governments and authorities to direct efforts towards adaptation policy
and increasing resilience to the consequences of climate change on health.
Call on authorities like public health agencies to plan for and implement
strategies to improve awareness of the increased risks to health of climate
change amongst health practitioners and the general public.
Successful future management of health issues requires ongoing longitudinal
research of its dynamics in the context of a changing climate.
As climate change proceeds, additional health-specific measures, like widespread
training of health staff, will be needed.
A monitoring process needs to be set up and implemented.
Page LA, Howard LM. (2010), The impact of climate change on mental health (but will mental health be discussed at
Copenhagen?). Psychol Med.;40:177–180.
26 Glisson, C., & Williams, N. J. (2015). Assessing and Changing Organizational Social Contexts for Effective Mental Health
Services. Annual review of public health, 36, 507-523.
27
National Cancer Institute. What is cancer? 2009. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/what-is-cancer.
28 Field, C. B. (Ed.). (2014). Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (Vol. 1). IPCC, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK
29
Bowles, D. C., Butler, C. D., & Friel, S. (2014). Climate change and health in Earth's future. Earth's Future, 2(2), 60-67
30 Klare, M. T. (2013), The third carbon age, Huffington Post, 8 August 2013
ANNEX 2: CLIMATE CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE:
A QUESTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS31
Delimitation of new approach
Agriculture has had an integrative perspective imposed upon it.
The preoccupation with environmental issues, food safety crises, commodity price
volatility, consumers’ concerns, the development of human and women’s rights, as
well as family farming considerations, and the international community concern on
the effects on recent research32 and events related to climate change33 (needing
action also at local level 34 ) calls for a new approach recognizing agriculture’s
economic and social connotations35. A valued and viable rural territory will be
assured only by incentivizing the exchange of information 36 and the use of
technology to assure sustainable development37.
The practices of agro-ecology / climate-smart-agriculture 38 or ecological
intensification39, are based on respect for biodiversity, working with nature, rotating
31
Submitted by CEDR–European Council for Rural Law–to the Working Group Climate Change & Human Rights, Democracy,
Social Cohesion and Global Challenges Committee, INGOs’ Conference of the Council of Europe on June 2015. Written by Dr.
Leticia BOURGES (Secretary General–CEDR) with the collaboration of Mr. Geoff WHITTAKER (Executive Board–CEDR) and
contributions from Anne Hanndatter KISMUL & Erlend DALING (NO), Prof. Dr. Esther MUÑIZ ESPADA (ES), Prof. Michael CARDWELL
(GB), and MinRat. Prof. Dr. Dieter SCHWEIZER (DE). Revised, approved by Prof. Dr. Roland NORER (Delegate General–CEDR).
32 IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5).
33 See Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, 2014, Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction,
Sendai, 14-18 March 2015, A/CONF.224/.2 (UNISDR). UNICEF, The Challenges of Climate Change: Children on the front line.
34 …through a new perspective of “glocalization”: the simultaneity, the co-presence, of both universalizing and particularizing
tendencies” (Robertson, Harvard Business Review).
35
The increasing in payments related to environment, the extension of eco-conditionality and the implementation of a “green
direct payment” has been seen as the recognition that agriculture produces both market and public goods. See regulation (EU)
n°1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013, preamble (37) et seq.; art.43 et seq.
36 Information is vital to assure using the most convenient production methods adapted to the local environment. It is also
advisable to incorporate the local traditional/native knowledge – very common in rural areas and in some countries – and to
protect that knowledge from misappropriation by use of appropriate intellectual property law. An effective management of
traditional knowledge, genetic resources and local innovations must be organized.
37 Paris’ negotiating text (FCCC/2015/ADP/1) is a bottom-up approach. The individual goals should be ratcheted up in order to
strengthen countries’ commitments gradually.
38 FAO defines climate smart agriculture: “Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrative approach to address the interlinked
challenges of food security and climate change, that explicitly aims for three objectives: (1) sustainably increasing agricultural
productivity, to support equitable increases in farm incomes, food security and development; (2) adapting and building
resilience of agricultural and food security systems to climate change at multiple levels; and (3) reducing greenhouse gas
emissions from agriculture (including crops, livestock and sheries). CSA invites to consider these three objectives together at
different scales – from farm to landscape – at different levels – from local to global – and over short and long time horizons,
taking into account national and local specificities and priorities” and specifies that “what is new about CSA is an explicit
consideration of climatic risks that are happening more rapidly and with greater intensity than in the past. New climate risks
require changes in agricultural technologies and approaches to improve the lives of those still locked in food insecurity and
poverty and to prevent the loss of gains already achieved. CSA approaches entail greater investment in: 1– Managing climate
risks, 2 – understanding and planning for adaptive transitions that may be needed, for example into new farming systems or
livelihoods, and 3 – exploiting opportunities for reducing or removing greenhouse gas emissions where feasible.”
http://www.fao.org/climatechange/ climatesmart/en/. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food
Security (CCAFS), Climate-smart agriculture, Success Stories, https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/34042/
Climate_smart_farming_successesWEB.pdf?sequence=5
The issue is to improve technologies, methodologies and approaches for sustainable farm management/production methods.
Agroecology is strongly enhanced by the French Minister of Agriculture. See Conference at UNESCO July 2015. See: Action
contre la Faim, Rapport, Ensemble, créons un climat contre la faim (http://faimetclimat.com/docs/4PAGES_Climat.pdf) et Call
from Civil Society organizations to fight hunger and climate change (http://faimetclimat.com/appel.pdf), 2015.
39 See: R. Bommarco, D. Kleijn, S.G. Potts, Ecological intensification: harnessing ecosystem services for food security, Trends in
Ecology & Evolution, Vol.28, Issue 4, April 2013, pages 230-238. T. Doré, D. Makowski, E. Malézieux, N. Munier-Jolain, M.
Tchamitchian, P. Tittonell, Facing up to the paradigm of ecological intensification in agronomy: Revisiting methods, concepts
crops and rationalized use of water and other resources in a perspective of social
responsibility, which requires the assumption of the correct policies and regulations
for the practice of agriculture increasing productivity and mitigating capacity
against climate risks, while assuring farms’ viability and agriculture’s social and
economic externalities.
Needing regulation
Agriculture is one of the sectors that will be most greatly affected by climate
change. Crop yields will be affected and the instability of farmers’ income and costs
of production, which in turn disrupts development and food security. This puts basic
human rights in danger. This type of risk particularly affects poor farmers.
Most countries40 agree on the need to adopt coordinated measures of adaptation
and mitigation 41 and integrate them in agriculture and forestry policies more
effectively in order to manage the risks of climate change (heatwaves – producing
heat stress in lactating cows or expanding disease vectors; droughts – increasing
irrigation needs or reducing water availability; floods – affecting harvest and wildlife
population, cyclones and wildfires)42 and build resilience to shocks.
Human Rights in Agriculture
The recognition of human rights is essential to the development of freedom, justice
and peace in the world43. The recognition of right to adequate food, the evolution of
women’s rights and the concern on family farming44 and climate change, has served
to emphasize the importance of agriculture for development.
The accent has been put on rights related to food (to adequate food45, to be free
from hunger46, to food47, food security48, food sovereignty), which are indivisibly
and knowledge, European Journal of Agronomy, Vol.34, Issue 4, May 2011, pages 197-210. Colloque Utilisation du potentiel
biologique des sols, un atout pour la production agricole (in http://www.academie-agriculture.fr/colloques/utilisation-dupotentiel-biologique-des-sols-un-atout-pour-la-production-agricole) and Agroforesterie tempérée et tropicale, 2015,
(http://www.academie-agriculture.fr/colloques/agroforesterie-temperee-et-tropicale), Académie de l’agriculture de France,.
40 M. Cardwell, European Union Agricultural Policy and Practice: The New Challenge of Climate Change, Environmental Law
Review, 2011. For the new PAC, see http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/index_fr.htm and for Rural Development
Policy as part of the European Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), see: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rural-development-20142020/legislation/index_en.htm
41 UNFCCC, Clean Development Mechanism – Methodology booklet, Sixth Edition, Nov. 2014.
42 IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5) identifies key adaptation actions for reducing the risks and minimizing adverse impacts on
the agriculture sector – early warning systems for extreme events (FCCC/SBSTA/2015/MISC.1 and Add.1). The issue would be
considered at SBSTA 43 (2015). See e.x. Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Summary in English: Report No.39 (20082009) to the Storting, Climate Challenges – Agriculture part of the Solution.
43 UN Charter, International Bill of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
44
L. Bourges and E. Muñiz Espada (dir.), Agricultura Familiar – Reflexiones desde cinco continentes, Ministerio de agricultura,
alimentacion y medio ambiente, Madrid, 2014.
45 After ICESCR, World Food Summit in 1996. CEDR, XXIII European Congress in Rural Law, Commission I: Right to adequate
food, http://www.cedr.org/congresses/roros/rorosc1.php in particular A.Ede, General Report.
46
ICESCR, art.11.1 and 11.2. Hunger threatens the freedom of thought and it may be seen as weapon of destruction or of
political manipulation. See: Annual FAO Reports on world food insecurity. Between the right to adequate food and the right to
be free from hunger, there all the grey tones between those two ends, which determine the grades of hunger, the
requirements of citizens to satisfy their eating and the actions the State should take.
47
Oliver de Schutter and Kaitlin Cordes, Accounting for Hunger: the Right to Food in the Era of Globalisation:
http://www.hartpub.co.uk/BookDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781849462266. World Food Conference, Rome 1974, governments
solemnly proclaimed that "every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in
order to develop their physical and mental faculties"
48 Rome Declaration on World Food Security, 1993, http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/w3613e/w3613e00.HTM
linked to the inherent dignity of the human person. As food is the principal
destination of agricultural production, it becomes important to recognize that
agriculture is an activity that links several human rights49, which States should take
into consideration when establishing policies and regulations concerning agriculture.
In addition, agriculture employs large numbers of people in poorer regions of the
world and consequently it is essential to development, especially in areas where
food disruption is relevant and where actions for climate change resilience are
fundamental.
Recommendations


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

49
Call on governments, international organizations and stakeholders to link the
implementation of the post-2015 development agenda to other relevant
processes at international and regional level; to set up programmes to ensure
the realization of the new integrative approach50 and to implement existing
useful legal instruments;
Call on governments, international organizations and stakeholders to
incorporate the consideration of agriculture in climate change negotiations;
Call on governments to integrate the different interests, and to coordinate the
different policies51 and regulations in a coherent and effective way, notably on
territory, paying attention to simplification and avoiding bureaucracy;
Call on governments, international organizations and stakeholders to commit
themselves to maintain, respect and incentivize the key role and contribution of
agriculture in sustainable development, notably its contribution to the balance
of ecosystems, to mitigate climate change effects, and to the economical and
demographic balance that influences in reduction of poverty and general
economic prosperity;
Call on governments to incentivize smart-climate and pro-sustainable
development practices in agriculture; and to integrate climate financing with
traditional sources of agricultural investment52;
To work and be remunerated; property (European Court of Human Rights, Lindheim and others v. Norway (applications nos.
13221/08 and 2139/10)); freedom of enterprise; self-determination and the freedom to pursue one’s development without
prejudice to others’ rights or to state obligation; dignity; equal access to economic resources, including the right to inheritance
and the ownership of land (land has become a critical issue, in particular because of land grabbing, so it is claimed, for
responsible investments in agriculture (see: TNI, The Global Land Grab – A Primer, Revised edition, Amsterdam, 2013. Cotula,
L., Vereulen, S., Leonard, R. and Keeley, J., 2009, Land Grab or development opportunity? Agricultural investment and
international land deals in Africa, FAO, IIED and IFAD, London/Rome)); access to credit and appropriate technology; freedom
from discrimination (article 2.2 ICESCR); religious freedom; freedom of thought (in extremis we may consider that hunger
threatens this freedom and, even worse, it may be seen as weapon of destruction or of political manipulation (see: annual FAO
reports on world food insecurity); adequate standard of living (ICESCR, art. 11. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
art.27.1, 27.3 and 24.2c, 24.2e.: stating the child’s right to the highest attainable standard of health implemented through
among other previsions the provision of adequate nutritious food and clean drinking water); safe environment; landscape
(European Landscape Convention – at present, a landscape approach implies to integrate and ensure coherence between
agricultural, nature conservation, forest management and territories policies); respecting equality and equity.
50
In particular, it is to respect a balanced integration of the three fundamental pillars: environment, economy and social impact
(See Position Paper of NGOs’ Conference … op.cit.).
51 FCCC/ADP/2015/1, 82.1 Option 1, 82.1 Option (a) [climate finance]: c. support the integration of climate objectives into other
policy-relevant areas and activities such as energy, agriculture, planning and transport, national fiscal accounts, development
policy and plans in line with country circumstances and in accordance with countries’ priorities.”

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52
Recognize the multiple destinations of agricultural products in order to fulfill
human needs and social needs, in particular for food and for energy production
from renewable resources;
Call on legislators to respect and fulfill human rights, paying due regard to the
key role of women, the needs of elder rural people and to the different
functions that farmers fulfill;
Call on governments and authorities to improve training of rural people to
incentivize civil participation (notably of farmers) in information measures53 and
in mitigation, conversion and adaptation measures against climate change54,
giving priority to local strategies and taking into account the differences in agroecological zones and farming systems; recognizing the importance of
information in order to form social choices and to afford actions needed;
Recognize the importance of cooperation to exchange information, to enhance
and protect scientific, technical55, traditional and indigenous knowledge and to
ensure the conservation of cross-border protected areas, migrating species, bees
and other pollinators, and strengthen coordination and synergies;
Recognize the right of access and benefit-sharing arising from the utilization of
genetic resources.
Implement programmes to inform and educate on nutrition and food
consumption in order to prevent food waste and nutrition disarrangements;
Implement programmes to invest in renewable energy taking into consideration
the influence on the quantity and price of food production from agriculture.
Call on governments and authorities to regulate cohesion policies56 with an
integrated perspective taking into consideration the protection of rural areas and
arable land, regulating and promoting agriculture near or in cities.
FAO, Climate-smart Agriculture - Sourcebook, 2014; http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3325e/i3325e.pdf
The participation of actors like farmers may be a useful tool not only to make known the constraints of the profession but
also to develop other type of tools like short circuit and eat-local.
54 See of public and private sector actors, see http://climateaction.unfccc.int/
55 See: Global forum for innovations in agriculture Africa edition.
56 Europe promotes the adoption of a cohesive territorial policy (new target since Lisbon Treaty). Even though, there is a limited
and ineffective treatment in regulatory instruments (see E. MUÑIZ ESPADA, La urgencia de legislar sobre la cohesión territorial.
Urbanismo y espacio rural, RDAA, Segunda época, n°63, año XIX, 93-140). The development of a viable and competitive
agriculture contributes to establishment of population in rural areas, to preservation of rural patrimony (buildings, cultural) and
assurance of some public goods (landscape, biodiversity – see International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture; Gangwon Declaration on biodiversity for Sustainable Development; Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic
Resources and the fair and equitable sharing on benefits arising from their utilization to the CBD). FAO statistics: 38,5% of land
is dedicated to agriculture.
In this perspective, agriculture is an essential element of territorial structure. The diversity of the destinations of its products
justifies the protection of the activity, but agriculture being the principal source of food, it is important to have a firm position
and clear instructions to limit or control the advancement of urban areas and to prevent rural areas from becoming denatured
(see L.Bourges, Agricultura y Urbe: Ventajas y desafíos frente a la necesidad de un desarrollo integral, Revista Revista española
de derecho agrario y alimentario, año XXI, n°65. Position Paper of NGOs’ Conference of the Council of Europe on Climate
change and Human rights recommends “to steer urban planning and architecture towards less space consumption, energy
savings and to seek thermal inertia”. Ruralia Institute, Effective Rural and Urban Innovation Policies – International Conference
in Seinäjki 5.-6.2.2009. CEDR, XXVIII European Congress on Rural Law, Commission II, www.cedr.org)
53