The human rights covenants in the light of anthropogenic climate change

This chapter undertakes a textual analysis of the Preambles and Parts I and II of the two principal UN human rights Covenants to assess their aptness to deal with existing and future phenomena associated with human-induced global climate change. While these phenomena apparently invoke the human rights ‘protections’ envisaged in the Covenants, the particular shape the Covenants have taken in the decades since entering into force renders them ill-suited to the emerging context of climate change