SUMMARY OF RIGHTS-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS AT COP19

This briefing paper by the Center for International Environmental Law analyzes human rights issues addressed during the COP19 negotiations in Warsaw, Poland, focusing on ambition, the Clean Development Mechanism, gender, the Green Climate Fund, public participation, and REDD+.

• At COP19, Parties agreed to start a process to identify mitigation actions that are "substantial, scalable and replicable" to address the risk of "dangerous" climate change. A ministerial roundtable is scheduled for June 2014 for Kyoto Protocol Parties to discuss enhancing short-term ambition. Additionally, a review is ongoing regarding whether the current goal of limiting temperature increase to two degrees is sufficient, with guidance requested by March 26, 2014.
• The review of the Clean Development Mechanism's (CDM) policies and procedures was postponed to the June 2014 Subsidiary Body for Implementation session, with adoption targeted for CMP10 in December 2014. Proposed changes include strengthening stakeholder consultation and ensuring CDM activities respect human rights. While no international rules for transparency and accountability were established, Parties acknowledged the need for tools to help countries monitor sustainable development benefits and develop local stakeholder consultation guidelines.
• The UNFCCC held its first in-session workshop on gender, leading to a proposed two-year work programme covering gender balance, capacity-building for female delegates, and monitoring of gender-sensitive climate policies. While gender provisions were omitted from the ADP and finance decisions, they were included in decisions regarding loss and damage (gender-disaggregated data), the Nairobi Work Programme (gender-sensitive approaches for adaptation), and the Climate Technology Centre and Network (gender balance in technology transfer).
• The COP provided guidance to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to balance resources between mitigation and adaptation, prioritize the most vulnerable countries for adaptation, and use a country-driven approach. All developing countries to the Convention are eligible for GCF support. However, the briefing notes the guidance is "very weak," lacking a specific operational timeframe and failing to address civil society participation or accountability.
• Parties established the "Warsaw Mechanism" to address loss and damage from climate change, including extreme and slow onset events, and created an executive committee that reports annually to the COP. The mechanism is placed under the Adaptation Framework rather than as a third pillar, and the briefing states the agreement provides the "bare minimum" acceptable to developing countries.
• Regarding public participation, an in-session workshop under the Doha Work Programme on public participation and access to information in domestic climate policy will be held in June 2014. The briefing also highlights the exclusion of three young activists on the first day of the conference for a non-obstructive action, which the author describes as a case of "unjustified sanctions" by the UNFCCC secretariat.
• Parties completed main rules for REDD+ across seven areas, including finance and safeguards information systems. Countries must now report on how safeguards are respected to receive funding, though the briefing notes a lack of guidance on the quality of this information and a failure to appropriately address the impacts of external drivers of deforestation on local and indigenous livelihoods.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2013). SUMMARY OF RIGHTS-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS AT COP19. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/COP19_RightsBasedDev_23Dec2013.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. SUMMARY OF RIGHTS-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS AT COP19. 2013. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/COP19_RightsBasedDev_23Dec2013.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=SUMMARY OF RIGHTS-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS AT COP19 |date=23 December 2013 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/COP19_RightsBasedDev_23Dec2013.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2013summary, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{SUMMARY OF RIGHTS-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS AT COP19}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2013}, month = dec, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/COP19_RightsBasedDev_23Dec2013.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }