The Human Rights Implications of Climate Policy Action in Ethiopia: The Case of Humbo Afforestation/Reforestation (A/R) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project

Abstract

The climate crisis is adversely affecting the full and effective enjoyment of a range of human rights such as the rights to life, health, water and adequate standard of living. Moreover, the crisis is characterized by uneven causes, vulnerabilities and impacts. This brings forth the climate justice concerns in which poor countries are subjected to disproportionate impacts of the problem which they hardly caused but are also obliged to shoulder inequitably distributed burden in mitigating the problem through policy instruments that are rife with human rights violations. The purpose of this article is to show the climate justice and rights implications of market-based climate policy drawing on empirical evidence from the implementation of Humbo Afforestation / Reforestation (A/R) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in the Humbo Wereda of Wolayita Sodo Zone in the South Ethiopia Regional State. The article draws on in-depth interviews, Key Informant Interviews (KII) ,Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), survey questionnaire, observation checklist field notes and document analysis in the discussion and analysis of the human rights implications of the implementation of the CDM project. It is found out that the implementation of the project failed to respect such procedural rights as the rights to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), access to information, participation in decision making and getting remedies on the one hand and also both directly and indirectly violated such substantive right as the rights to adequate standard of living. The article concludes underlining that climate policy needs to recognize that the respect and protection of the right to a clean,healthy and sustainable environment and the right to development entails fundamental politico-economic transformation involving a shift away from reliance on fossil fuels as energy sources upholding the Human Rights-Based Approach to Climate Policy.
Keywords:- Climate Injustice, Human Rights –Based Approach, A/R CDM Project, Kyoto Protocol, Flexibility Mechanisms, the Paris Agreement