A/HRC/36/46 VI. State commitments, national reports and intended nationally determined contributions 75. Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change must submit national reports, also known as communications, on implementation of the Convention to the Conference of the Parties.42 The required content of national reports and the timetable for their submission are different for annex I and non-annex I parties, in accordance with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” enshrined in the Convention.43 76. A study by the Mary Robinson Foundation of national reports submitted between 2010 and 2015 concluded that the majority did not refer to human rights, such as the right to health, the right to adequate food or the right to water and sanitation, although the majority of the reports contained references to domestic policies and measures that related to human rights protection. The vast majority — over 95 per cent — of the references to substantive rights were in reports from developing countries, probably because these countries were already feeling the impacts of climate change on such rights as water, food, health and shelter due to extreme events, rising sea levels and changing seasons. 77. The study concluded that international reporting processes still tended to deal with human rights and climate change as separate issues. The authors urged the adoption of a more cohesive approach that would better reflect realities on the ground, where rights, development and climate change are interlinked.44 78. Furthermore, in 2013 the Conference of the Parties invited all parties to develop reports by 2015 on intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) towards achieving the objective of the Convention, as set out in its article 2. 45 INDCs play an important role in the framework established by the Paris Agreement as they form the implementation plans through which each Government defines the level of its commitment and identifies how it will implement its obligations. UNEP has raised concerns that only 14 of the first 119 INDCs submitted referred to linkages between climate change and the impact of mitigation and or adaptation measures on indigenous peoples. 46 Of further concern is that references in INDCs to respect for human rights tended to be general, without concrete detail. 79. Furthermore, a review undertaken by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Rights and Resources Initiative of 161 INDCs noted that only 21 of them, representing less than 13 per cent of the world’s tropical and subtropical forest area, included clear commitments to implement community-based tenure or natural resource management strategies as part of their climate change mitigation plans or adaptation actions. 47 80. Parties to the Convention should prepare their INDCs in a manner that enables the full and effective participation by indigenous peoples and civil society, as well as other parts of the population particularly affected by climate response measures.48 Furthermore, parties should explain the steps taken to increase participation of all stakeholders in developing the INDC reports. 81. Without a participatory approach and public access and awareness of reporting processes, States may seek to eschew their obligations under human rights law by conceptualizing climate change processes as disconnected from human rights. In order to prove their commitment to honour their human rights obligations, States must acknowledge 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 14 Article 7. See http://unfccc.int/national_reports/non-annex_i_natcom/items/10124.php. See www.mrfcj.org/. See http://unfccc.int/files/focus/indc_portal/application/pdf/synthesis_report_-_overview.pdf; and http://unfccc.int/ focus/indc_portal/items/8766.php. UNEP, Climate Change and Human Rights, pp. 30-31. See http://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Indigenous-Peoples-and-LocalCommunity-Tenure-in-the-INDCs-Status-and-Recommendations_RRI_April-2016.pdf. See www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Delivering-On-Paris-Web.pdf.