A/HRC/27/66 has as much to do with the disproportionate effect of a disaster on a particular community as it does with the natural hazards themselves. Thus, the consequences of disasters may well be made more serious if high-risk populations are not properly addressed in disaster planning and response. 27. The estimated 370 million indigenous people in some 90 countries worldwide13 face systematic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic power and continue to be overrepresented among the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society. Indigenous peoples are often dispossessed of their traditional lands and territories and deprived of their resources for survival, both physical and cultural, further weakening their capacity to deal with hazards, both natural and man-made (E/C.19/2013/14, para. 2). 28. Many indigenous communities have faced disasters, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, typhoons, coastal erosion and drought, which have caused enormous losses including of lives, property and sources of livelihood. Even though indigenous peoples are often from smaller, close-knit communities that live close to the earth, understand their environment and practise risk reduction strategies and methods that originated within their communities and have been enhanced and passed down over generations, the factors listed below are among those placing them at particular risk from the effects of natural disasters. A. Risk factors 1. Climate change 29. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change14 states that the global climate system is warming and is doing so mainly because of manmade greenhouse gas emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel’s reports, and other studies, document how climate change will affect, and already is affecting, the basic elements of life for millions of people around the world, leading to an increasing frequency of extreme weather events, rising sea levels, droughts, increasing water shortages, and the spread of tropical and vector-borne diseases. 30. It is becoming increasingly apparent that climate change will have implications for the enjoyment of human rights. In 2008, the Human Rights Council recognized this in the preamble to its resolution 7/23 on human rights and climate change, expressing concern that climate change “poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world,” threatening the right to safe and adequate water and food, the right to health and the right to housing. Equally, the human rights perspective emphasizes that climate change is set to hit the poorest countries and communities the hardest, including indigenous peoples. 31. In its most recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted that the “livelihoods and lifestyles of indigenous peoples, pastoralists and fisherfolk, often dependent on natural resources, are highly sensitive to climate change policies, especially those that marginalize their knowledge, values and activities.”15 Considering this through a human rights lens, it is clear that projected climate change–related effects threaten the 13 14 15 8 State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (United Nations publication, Sales No. 09.VI.13). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Assessment Report (2007). Available from www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm (accessed 4 August 2014). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Technical summary, p. 8.