Balancing human rights in climate policies

This chapter explores the extent to which the right to development compels States to act on climate change. Significantly, under the UN Declaration on the Right to Development (UNDRD), States have the right and the duty to formulate appropriate national development policies that aim at the constant improvement of the well-being of the entire population and of all individuals. The Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) provides a mode of cooperation between industrialised and developing countries. CDMs are designed to assist developing countries in the move to green technology, so as to enhance their prospects for sustainable development while helping industrialised countries to achieve their legally binding targets under the Protocol. The right to development is viewed by industrialised nations as an integral part of the controversial demands made by less developed countries for establishing a New International Economic Order (NIEO), challenging the existing international economic regime established in the 1970s