A/HRC/36/46 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples pursuant to her mandate under Council resolution 33/12. In the report, the Special Rapporteur provides a brief summary of her activities since her previous report to the Council (A/HRC/33/42) as well as a thematic study on the impacts of climate change and climate finance on indigenous peoples’ rights. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 2. As part of the mandate from the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur undertakes four interrelated areas of work: country visits, thematic studies, promotion of good practices and communications to Governments on alleged cases of human rights violations. 3. Since she presented her last report to the Council, the Special Rapporteur has carried out two official country visits: to the United States of America in February 2017 (A/HRC/36/46/Add.1) and to Australia in March/April 2017 (A/HRC/36/46/Add.2). 4. With a view to improving the effectiveness of and coordination between the existing bodies within the United Nations system with specific mandates on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Special Rapporteur participated in the annual meetings of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 5. In relation to climate finance, the Special Rapporteur has participated in a number of assessments and consultations over the past two years, such as the global training of indigenous peoples on the Green Climate Fund and climate finance, held in Bangkok in September 2015; regional trainings on the same topic held in Hanoi, Lima and Nairobi in April 2016; and the dialogue on the engagement of the Green Climate Fund as a possible funding window for indigenous peoples, held in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2016. III. Indigenous peoples and climate change A. Impact of climate change on indigenous peoples 6. Indigenous peoples are among those who have contributed least to the problem of climate change, yet they are the ones suffering from its worst impacts. They are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change because many of them depend on ecosystems that are particularly prone to the effects of climate change and extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and cyclones. Some of the most affected regions are small islands, high altitudes, humid tropics, coastal regions, deserts and polar areas. Global warming increases the risk of disease, changes animal migration routes, reduces biodiversity, causes saltwater inundation of fresh water, destroys crops and results in food insecurity.1 7. Indigenous peoples are heavily dependent on lands and natural resources for their basic needs and livelihoods, such as food, medicine, shelter and fuel, and they are among the poorest and most marginalized people in the world. While indigenous peoples account for 5 per cent of the world’s population, they comprise 15 per cent of those living in poverty. Some 33 per cent of people living in extreme rural poverty globally come from indigenous communities. The World Bank estimates that more than 100 million people 1 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Climate Change and Human Rights (Nairobi, 2015), pp. 2-8. 3