For instance, in a high-profile climate lawsuit in Norway, environmental groups argued that allowing oil drilling in the Arctic was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled that the state did in fact have an obligation to protect citizens from environmental harm. However, the court ruled that drilling permits still didn’t infringe on the right, in part because the state shouldn’t be responsible for emissions from oil it exports.
France, however, has taken a step further. The “duty of vigilance” law, introduced in 2017, holds companies responsible for preventing human rights or environment violations throughout their whole supply chains, explains Sebastién Mabile, an environmental lawyer with the Paris-based legal services firm Seattle Avocats.
Evidently, the right to a healthy environment requires a few extra ingredients to work well, not least the will to enforce it and judicial systems that are free of political influence – things that not all 110 countries with the right enjoy. Human rights are most effective when they’re coupled with other constitutional rights and laws that make it easier for people to go to court and get information on their rights, Jeffords adds.
And environmental protection has to go hand in hand with other human rights, Moodley adds, pointing towards governments that have evicted indigenous communities out of protected areas in the name of conservation. Yet when used properly, such as in Latin America, constitutional rights can protect human rights as well as nature – and without hampering economic development; Costa Rica is considered an upper-middle-income country, relying on electronics, software, and ecotourism as its major exports.
More countries are considering adopting the right to a healthy environment soon, either in their constitutions or general legislation, including Algeria, The Gambia, Chile, Canada and Scotland. But some of the world’s richest – like the UK, United States, China and Japan – have yet to officially consider it. Meanwhile, Boyd still advocates for recognition at the UN level, which could compel more countries to recognise and strengthen it and create ways of holding countries accountable on the international stage.
It is often said that human rights have their roots in wrongs. The UN Declaration on Human Rights in 1948 emerged out of the ashes of World War Two. Back then, its authors couldn’t foresee a global environmental crisis, nor a wealth of scientific research demonstrating nature’s importance to human wellbeing. But such documents are arguably meant to evolve forwards and adapt to new threats to the people they govern. “If we continue down the path we’re on, then we’re in deep trouble from a human rights perspective,” Boyd says. “If we don’t step up and actually take the actions that we know are necessary and feasible to protect and restore this beautiful planet of ours.”
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