A Human Rights-based Approach to Climate and Disaster Risk Financing

Climate and disaster risk financing (CDRF) measures and activities that governments or other actors carry out can affect the enjoyment of human rights. The Paris Agreement therefore recognises that, “Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights […]” (Paris Agreement 2015). This paper presents a human rights-based approach to Climate and Disaster Risk Financing (HRBA-CDRF). The HRBA-CDRF contains four guardrails and five principles, along with comprehensive guidelines including ‘necessary measures’ for implementing each principle. In accordance with the approach, CDRF instruments and activities should be developed, implemented, and evaluated so as to protect and promote enjoyment of human rights to prevent harm to communities and ecosystems, as well as for promoting sustainable development in the context of climate risk management.