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The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Natural Justice collaborated during 2013–14 with a group of lawyers and experts on the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to clarify the following issues:| Which conservation actors have responsibility for upholding international human rights standards?| Which international human rights standards are most relevant in a conservation context?| Which redress mechanisms are available to indigenous peoples and local communities when human rights are infringed by conservation initiatives? We determined that, while states are traditionally seen as the primary duty bearers under international law, human rights norms are increasingly considered to apply to non-state entities. This supports our conclusion that international organisations, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and philanthropic foundations have human rights responsibilities under international law.

The scale of climate change adaptation investments demands robust assessments of the expected and actual returns. We need to know how effectively adaptation keeps development on track and equally importantly how equitably adaptation costs and benefits are distributed. Adaptation initiatives may be placed into three broad categories: addressing the existing ‘adaptation deficit’; managing incremental changes in climate-related risks; and proactively addressing the more profound longer term manifestations and impacts of climate change by transforming or replacing existing systems and practices.