Grants for Research Project on Human Rights Impacts of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Policies/Measures

Deadline: 12 September 2021

The German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) invites proposals from individual researchers, groups of individuals or institutions working in consortium for conducting a research project on human rights impacts of climate mitigation and adaptation policies / measures.

• Systematically identifying human rights impacts (considering substantive and procedural rights) of climate mitigation / adaptation measures / policies in different sectors, such as energy, mobility / transport, land / agriculture, construction / housing and water, thereby focusing on human rights impacts going beyond but not excluding participation rights (including FPIC) in the design and implementation of climate policies and measures by affected individuals / groups;
• Identifying underlying factors that (potentially) facilitate negative human rights impacts in these sectors;
• Examples of approaches taken by individuals / groups negatively affected by climate mitigation / adaptation measures to address negative human rights impacts and to seek remedy;
• An overview of promising approaches and practices to identify, avoid, mitigate and / or remedy negative human rights impacts of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

• What underlying factors lead or facilitate (potential) negative human rights impacts of climate mitigation / adaptation? Do they point to gaps in human rights protection per se in the country in question (ie climate adaptation may reinforce existing social inequality or mitigate the effects of social inequality but will not change the underlying factors of social inequality even if adaptation measures entail robust human rights safeguards)? Do they point to gaps in regulation / human rights safeguards of climate measures in a specific sector or to gaps in implementation, or both?
• What, if anything, has been done to identify, avoid, mitigate and / or remedy negative human rights impacts? If there has been no identification, avoidance, mitigation and / or remedy, this is a result of the lack of competent policy instruments / mechanisms, the failure to implement these instruments / mechanisms, or the denial of those affected by negative impacts to access existing mechanisms?
• What approaches do individuals / groups take when climate mitigation / adaptation measures negatively impact on their human rights? Where foreign financing / investment in climate measures is involved do they use complaint mechanisms of donor countries / organizations? In case of domestically financed measures do they seek remedy in national / regional courts? Are there indications of the effectiveness of the approaches taken?

• The contractor will be selected on the basis of the submitted proposals. Proposals may be submitted by individuals, institutions, or consortia of institutions and individuals, and the proposals must demonstrate:
  • Established expertise in the field of human rights as they relate to climate change;
  • Academic research and publishing experience.
• Furthermore, the proposals should include:
  • CVs and lists of publications for the researcher (s) who will carry out the project;
  • An exposé of 2-3 pages covering the proposed weighting of the aspects to be covered by the research project; the proposed methodology, a tentative outline, and a timeline for the conduct of the research;
  • A financial proposal showing the basis for the calculation as a daily fee multiplied by the anticipated number of days and showing both net price and gross price taking account of any taxes (such as VAT).