ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS AS HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

The natural environment is the foundational source that sustains all life on Earth. As the human population has grown and industrialization has accelerated, we have disrupted and degraded natural ecosystems in ways that now threaten the basic environmental conditions we require to live healthy lives. This has led to calls from many corners to recognize environmental rights as fundamental human rights. In this blog post, we explore the philosophical, legal, and practical dimensions of establishing environmental protections within the framework of international human rights. We examine the arguments for and against this framing, look at how some nations have already established constitutional environmental rights, and propose ideas for how to operationalize and enforce these rights globally.

Introduction

When we think about human rights, certain civil and political rights typically come to mind first - freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly, protections against discrimination, prohibitions on torture and slavery, the right to due process, etc. These have been the focus of the human rights movement and international legal frameworks like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights since the atrocities of World War II.

However, in more recent decades, a broader conception of human rights has emerged that also encompasses economic, social, and cultural rights like the rights to food, water, housing, healthcare, and education. This expanded view recognizes that simply protecting civil liberties is not enough - people must also have access to basic resources and public goods to truly live with dignity.

Now, as the 21st century has brought a heightened awareness of human-caused environmental and climate change, a new frontier in defining human rights has arisen: the idea that a healthy, sustainable environment is itself a prerequisite for the fulfillment of all other human rights. This framing posits that clean air, clean water, fertile soil, biodiversity, and a stable climate are not just nice-to-haves, but fundamental requirements for people to be able to enjoy rights to life, health, food, sanitation, property, and cultural traditions.

The Movement for Environmental Human Rights

The movement to establish environmental rights as human rights has been gaining momentum over the past few decades, driven by a growing body of evidence on the human impacts of environmental degradation as well as the leadership of grassroots activists, legal scholars, UN experts, and some national governments.

A key early milestone was the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, which produced guiding principles stating that people have fundamental rights to "an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being." In 1994, the UN Draft Principles on Human Rights and the Environment spelled out that human rights law imposeslies procedural duties on states to assess environmental impacts, make environmental information public, and allow for public participation in environmental decision-making.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, allegations of human rights violations related to environmental harm multiplied across the globe. These ranged from the well-known gas leak disasters in Bhopal and the contamination of Ecuadorian Amazon to less-publicized cases of land grabs, toxic dumping, water pollution, and deforestation that compromised the lives and livelihoods of local communities.

In response to these mounting cases, the UN Human Rights Council appointed its first Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment in 2012, strengthening the institutional commitment to address the issue. The expert, along with many jurists and scholars, has since produced a thorough body of work articulating the substantive human rights obligations that nations have regarding environmental protection.

On a philosophical level, the argument hinges on the basic idea that human rights ultimately derive from respect for fundamental human dignity and the requirements for humans to live a life worthy of that dignity. Since an adequate environment is essential to life, health, food, water, property, cultural identity, and other universally recognized human values, its protection should logically be included under the human rights umbrella.

Critics and Challenges

Of course, the concept of legally enshrining environmental protections as human rights is not without its critics and challenges. Some argue that linking the environment too closely to existing human rights frameworks could dilute or detract from the original intent of human rights law centered around civil liberties and preventing abuses by state actors.

There are also complex questions around how to define adequate environmental quality, determine responsibility and liability for environmental harm, and balance environmental protection against other societal priorities and rights like economic development. Establishing justiciable legal duties around environmental protection that can realistically be implemented and enforced globally is no simple task.

Additionally, recognizing environmental rights alone does not automatically solve issues of environmental injustice, whereby low-income communities and marginalized groups tend to bear the disproportionate brunt of pollution, resource depletion, and climate impacts caused by the wealthy and powerful. Effective environmental rights must be combined with broader socioeconomic and racial justice efforts.

The Path Ahead: Constitutions, Laws and Enforcement

Despite the challenges, the tide does appear to be shifting towards formal recognition and legal codification of environmental rights as a key part of the overall human rights framework. Several nations have already incorporated constitutional environmental rights to some degree, including countries as diverse as Russia, Brazil, South Africa, France, and Costa Rica.

On the international level, while no global treaty yet exists that unambiguously establishes environmental human rights, there is an emerging consensus around certain procedural environmental rights related to information, participation, and remedy as derived from existing human rights laws and principles. The UN's Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment issued in 2018 articulate 16 principles defining these rights and states' environmental obligations.

To operationalize substantive environmental rights, experts have proposed approaches like enshrining rights to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment that meets accepted scientific standards. Potential legal remedies could then involve halting or modifying activities that credibly threaten to violate those rights based on environmental impact assessments. Independent monitoring and enforcement mechanisms with access to expertise would be critical.

Some have advocated for establishing specialized international environmental human rights courts or tribunals in the longer term to hear complaints and provide consistent jurisprudence, similar to how dedicated courts exist for other issue areas like international criminal law.

Ultimately, the strongest implementation and enforcement of any human rights - environmental or otherwise - relies upon internalization and rule of law not just within but also across nations. The human rights framework is inherently an international regime based on global cooperation, multilateral agreements, and shared commitment to universal human dignity. Climate change, ecological degradation, and pollution transcend national borders, so protecting environmental human rights necessitates a cohesive, planet-wide strategy and global buy-in.

Conclusion

Does elevating environmental protection to the level of internationally recognized human rights offer a promising path forward? Given the grave planetary threats facing humanity from issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, chemical pollution, and depleted resources, we need to explore every possible legal, moral, and practical pathway to safeguarding the environmental foundations that make all human life, rights, and society possible.

Framing a safe, healthy, and sustainable environment as not just a policy aim but as an essential precondition for true human dignity and freedom has powerful philosophical resonance. If we accept that human rights are not just about respecting individual liberties but ensuring people can meet their basic needs with dignity, then environmental quality absolutely falls under that remit. After all, what good are legal protections and socioeconomic rights if the very ecological systems that sustain human existence are irreparably degraded?

At the same time, creating new enforceable international environmental human rights regimes is an enormously complex challenge. It requires transcending national self-interests, navigating intricate legal and institutional design questions, and committing to serious global cooperation and enforcement capacity. These are monumental tasks, to be sure, but ones well worth undertaking given what is at stake for the human family.

As with any expansion of human rights, establishing environmental rights will ultimately rely on public demand, legal and political leadership, and humanity's moral conviction that all people deserve to live their lives in dignity - a dignity fundamentally rooted in the quality of our natural environment. The time is ripe to fully integrate environmental protection into the core framework of human rights guiding our world toward a more just, sustainable future for all.

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