CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law argues that the Right to Development (RTD) is essential for guiding a non-carbon development path in a climate-constrained world. It posits that the RTD provides a moral and ethical framework to transform economic structures, promote technology transfer to developing nations, and ensure that climate mitigation and adaptation measures do not violate fundamental human rights.

• Climate change is described as a systematic denial of fundamental human rights, leading to hunger, poverty, conflict, forced displacement, and loss of livelihoods for millions.
• The World Bank estimates that a 2°C increase from pre-industrial levels could result in one to two billion people lacking sufficient clean water and between 100 and 400 million people being driven into hunger.
• The Right to Development (RTD) is presented as a tool to enable a non-carbon development path, emphasizing that industrialized countries bear the responsibility to provide the financial and technological support necessary for a 'technological leap' to avoid further environmental destruction.
• The document argues that current economic models based on unconstrained expansion and the replacement of biological tenets with industrial ones are bound to fail. It cites the American Corn Belt as an example of a destructive model dependent on fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers and GMOs, which has contributed to a public health crisis and the creation of a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Agroecology is proposed as an alternative development path that enhances food system sustainability and resilience to climate change by recycling nutrients and energy and diversifying species.
• The RTD can help resolve UNFCCC negotiation deadlocks by refuting the idea that the right to development is a 'right to pollute' and instead focusing on technology transfer and the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities.
• An evaluation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under RTD criteria found that benefits are unevenly distributed among developing countries, environmental integrity is questionable, and human rights considerations are not factored into sustainable development determinations for host States.
• The 2010 Cancun outcomes of the UNFCCC COP recognized that climate change impacts the enjoyment of human rights and emphasized that Parties should fully respect human rights in all climate-related actions, including safeguards for REDD to protect indigenous peoples' lands.

APA

Orellana, M. A. (2011). CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CC_RightDev_Feb11.pdf

Chicago

Orellana, Marcos A. CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT. Center for International Environmental Law, 2011. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CC_RightDev_Feb11.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Orellana |first1=Marcos A |title=CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=24 February 2011 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CC_RightDev_Feb11.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{orellana2011climate, author = {Orellana, Marcos A}, title = {{CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2011}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CC_RightDev_Feb11.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }