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Recommendation 1883 (2009)
Challenges posed by climate change
1. The Parliamentary
Assembly refers to its Resolution
1682 (2009) on the challenges posed by climate change and asks the
Committee of Ministers to ensure that it is applied by member states
and observer countries.
2. The Assembly recalls its other relevant texts which should
be taken into consideration when applying Resolution 1682 (2009), namely Recommendation
1823 (2008) on global warming and ecological disasters; Resolution 1655 and Recommendation
1862 (2009) on environmentally induced migration and displacement: a
21st-century challenge; Recommendation
1879 (2009) on renewable energies and the environment; Resolution 1679 (2009) on nuclear energy and sustainable development; Resolution 1588 (2007) on radioactive waste and protection of the environment; Resolution 1552 (2007) on the capture of carbon dioxide as a means of fighting
climate change; Recommendation
1653 (2004) on environmental accounting as a sustainable development
tool; Resolution 1449
(2005) on the environment and the Millennium Development Goals,
and Resolution 1596 (2008) on protection of the environment in the Arctic region.
3. The Assembly also recalls Recommendation 135 (2008) on addressing the impacts of climate change on biodiversity,
adopted by the Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation
of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) and
relevant texts of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
of the Council of Europe (the Congress), in particular, Recommendation 243 and Resolution 262 (2008) on public, local and regional action: for a new energy
culture; Resolution 247 and Recommendation
230 (2008) on local and regional authorities committed to sustainable
consumption; Resolution
248 and Recommendation
231 (2008) on climate change: building adaptive capacity of local
and regional authorities.
4. The Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to adopt the
issue of climate change as one of its core priorities and to instruct
the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe to consider addressing
this vital issue in their respective activities and therefore:
4.1. strengthen co-ordination of
existing activities related to climate change across different bodies and
through the different managing structures of Council of Europe intergovernmental
programmes, including the Bern Convention and the Pan-European Biological
and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS), the European Conference
of Ministers responsible for Regional/Spatial Planning (CEMAT), the
European and Mediterranean Major Hazards Agreement (EUR-OPA), the
European Committee on Migration (CDMG) and other services in the
Directorate of Culture, Cultural and Natural Heritage, and invite
other relevant sectors to join;
4.2. explore the linkages between climate change and human
rights in Europe, including the implications of climate-change-related
impact on the effective enjoyment of human rights, and the role that
human rights obligations can play in strengthening international
policy making in regard to climate change;
4.3. communicate widely current Council of Europe activities
related to climate change.
5. In view of the preceding, the Assembly draws attention to
its Recommendation 1885
(2009) on a draft additional protocol to the European Convention
on Human Rights concerning the right to a healthy environment and Recommendation 1862 (2009) and reiterates its request to the Committee of Ministers
to instruct the relevant expert committee to draft a new protocol
to the European Convention on Human Rights enshrining the right
to a healthy and viable environment as a human right.
6. The Assembly also invites the Congress to urge local and regional
authorities to take the necessary action to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and to deal with the effects of climate change.