2014 UNITAR-Yale Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy

Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability, Post-2015 Development, and the Future Climate Regime

Yale University, 5-7 September 2014

UNITAR-Yale conference The 2014 Conference on Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability, Post-2015 Development Agenda, and the Future Climate Regime took place on 5-7 September 2014 at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. The Conference was organized by Yale University and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United National Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The Conference brought together more than 150 scholars and policy experts to discuss state-of-the-art knowledge at the nexus of human rights and the environment, building on more than 80 papers which were written by researchers and expert practitioners from 38 different countries as a contribution to the Conference. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, provided reflections on governance and environmental rights. The keynote presentation was given by John Knox, the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment.

The outcomes and conclusions of the Conference are expected to inform: (1) the discussion on Sustainable Development Goals and a post-2015 development agenda by the 69th UN General Assembly in 2014/2015; (2) the negotiation of a future climate change regime by the end of 2015 under the UNFCCC; (3) the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples; and (4) the 2015 report of the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment whose mandate was initiated by the Human Rights Council in 2012.

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