In a major move to arrest the alarming damage to the environment, the United General Assembly, on July 28, 2021, declared a healthy environment as a human right. Although the UN resolution is not legally binding, it is expected to raise awareness and prompt states to ensure that everyone has access to a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment.”
India voted in support of the UN resolution that recognises the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right.
The Right To A Healthy Environment: Key Points
- Environmental advocates expect that not only states will be encouraged to strengthen the existing law to protect our environment, but they will also do more to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in their constitutions.
- Supporters of this resolution say that the latest UN resolution will give environmental rights activists more power to challenge government policies and big projects that are harming local ecology and biodiversity.
- The latest resolution came as the world is facing the threats of global warming and climate change, biodiversity loss, air pollution and hazardous wastes.
- If these problems are left unchecked, people around the world will face existential threats. Poor and marginalised sections will be the worst victims of environmental degradation.
What Are Environmental Rights?
- The right to a clean and healthy environment entered the public discourse in 1972 when the UN passed the Stockholm Declaration. This was the first world conference that acknowledged the environment as a major issue.
- The Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment issued 26 principles to protect and manage the environment.
- Its first Principle states: “Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being”.
- Experts have now recognised that human rights are incomplete if people don’t have access to a clean and healthy environment.
- If government policies and economic development plans remain insensitive to concerns related to the environment, people will not be able to fully enjoy their human rights.
- There are two main components of environmental rights. The first one is substantive rights. The substantive right includes fundamental rights, while the second component, procedural rights are tools that are used to achieve substantial rights.
Since then, more than 100 states have given constitutional protection to environmental rights. A healthy and sustainable environment has been recognised as a legal right by more than 155 states.
In 1976, Portugal had become the first country to enshrine the environment as a human right in its constitution. Slowly, other countries also started recognising the right to a healthy environment.
Need To Recognise Environment As A Human Right
Almost all countries have laws that are supposed to protect the environment. More specifically, these laws are designed to control air pollution, protect biodiversity. There are policies that are supposed to protect species and plants, as well as our rivers and oceans. However, there is a lack of urgency on the part of governments and policymakers to fully implement these environmental laws.
- Citizens always struggle against powerful private entities, and are unable to prevent damage to the environment by these entities. Many government policies are destructive to the environment. They also displace people from the areas they have been living for generations.
- Declaring a healthy environment a human right will empower people to challenge such policies and hold their governments accountable.
- The right to life is an integral part of the existing human rights across the world. Food security, access to healthcare, water and sanitation are also enshrined in the fundamental rights in most countries. However, people can’t enjoy these rights fullly if the environment they live in is unsafe, toxic and polluting.
- Recognising environment as a human right will empower people to stand up for their right to clean air, access safe water, get healthy foods to eat, have clean river, a non-toxic environments to live, work
- People will be able to live a dignified life if they live in a healthy environment. This way, strengthening human rights will also help to protect the environment.
What Needs To Be Done To Make Environment As A Human Right More Successful
- Policymakers have now recognised the links that exist between human rights and the environment. The Judiciary has also acknowledged that the environment has an important role to play when it comes to giving human rights to people.
- Domestic and international laws as well as court’s judgments have broadened the scope of human rights.
- In order to make the environment as a human right a reality for all, states should take support of civil society, environmental activists and the corporate sector and other stakeholders including the media.
- Governments should usher in new policies that help states to make a successful transition to a human rights-based economy.
- Governments should also provide adequate finance and support to encourage businesses to not harm the environment while setting up projects in ecologically sensitive areas.
- Businesses should hire environmental experts to formulate a due diligence process for a project.
- Due diligence process should take into account any adverse effects that their activities will have on the environment.
- All the existing international and domestic forums where environmental policy is formulated, should have the representatives of people and communities that are most likely to be affected by development plans.
- Local communities and individuals know best what is at stake and what can be done to protect the ecology.
- Businesses should also be made accountable to any harms to the environment caused by their business activities.
- Existing government regulatory mechanisms should be strengthened to enforce environmental laws on the ground.