[JURIST] Government signatories to the Paris Agreement [materials, PDF] will meet in Bonn next week and are intent upon discussing human rights issues with the plan. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and environment, John H. Knox, stated [UN report] Friday that this meeting will be, “[t]he first test of States’ commitment to the principles of the Paris Agreement.” During this meeting, the government representatives will discuss possible alternatives to the Clean Development Mechanism [official website], which was criticized for its contribution to human rights violations, most notably displacing indigenous communities. Knox hopes that a new sustainable framework can be established with safeguards against potential human rights violations, using “prior assessments, provisions for public participation, and effective grievance procedures,” among other mechanisms.

The agreement was reached during the twenty-first annual conference of parties, known as COP21 [official website] and achieved the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, aiming for only a 1.5 degree temperature rise. According to many experts, climate change [JURIST backgrounder] as a result of global greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most pressing and controversial environmental issues facing the international community today. In July US President Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced an agreement [text] to address climate change [JURIST report]. Both countries pledged to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the use of wind and solar power sources to 20 percent of each nation’s electricity production by 2030. Brazil also pledged to help reduce the deforestation problem by restoring nearly 30 million acres of Amazon rain forest. China also announced its climate change goals [press release] in July, including reducing its adjusted carbon monoxide output by 60 percent.