Megan HeidelFounder and Content Creator It's a simple question: do we as human beings have a right to a healthy environment? Do all people have this right or is it awarded to a select few? The optimistic answer is yes, we do have a right to live in a healthy environment where our surroundings do not negatively effect our physical health or ability to practice other rights we are entitled to. However, in today's world this right is not universally respected.
The right to a healthy environment and healthy life is solidified in international human rights mechanisms, including two of the most internationally recognized human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Whereas the ICCPR focuses primarily, as its name contends, on civil and political rights, the ICESCR's articles can be more readily interpreted as protective of the environment due to its emphasis on social and cultural rights. The ICCPR does maintain the right to life, which can be related to a healthy environment, where life is threatened or shortened in areas of environmental injustice, often a reflection of racial or economic divisions in society. Communities of color in the United States, for example, often have fewer green spaces, higher rates of air and water pollution, noise pollution, little to no access to nutritious food, and consequently have higher instances of conditions such as cancer, respiratory illnesses, and even shorter life spans. (For a quick introduction to environmental justice issues in the US, check out our resources page.) Additionally, the ICCPR and ICESCR together support the right to self-determination, where, "by virtue of that right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development." This statement is present in Article 1 of both covenants. To tie this to a right to a healthy environment, one must consider the different ways in which various communities live, their mechanisms for maintaining a basic standard of living, and the materials used to maintain these standards. A simple example perhaps, fishing may be a means of economic development for a group of people yet with the rise in commercial fishing and indiscriminate fishing practices such as bottom trawling, the economic livelihood of these peoples is threatened while the environment is simultaneously harmed, reducing the local fish population and destroying the seabed. So, the ICCPR does not grant an explicit right to a healthy environment, but the components of the other rights it protects can be contingent on a healthy environment. The ICESCR is more direct although once again, it does not explicitly express the right to a healthy environment which, in turn, would require environmental protection. However, there are rights protected in the covenant which are being and will be threatened by environmental degradation and climate change, insinuating at least a need if not an implicit inclusion of the right to a healthy environment for the purpose of upholding the rights dependent upon it. Articles in the ICESCR addressing these areas include:
Droughts, the increased prevalence of which has been linked to climate change, affect global food supplies and distribution, which can threaten the right to adequate food. Droughts can also insight conflict between groups due to the scarcity of fertile land. Perhaps most obvious as dependent upon a healthy environment is the right to the highest attainable standard of physical health. As with the example of environmental justice, where environmental conditions are subpar, human health is affected as a consequence. As if the relationship between recognized international human rights covenants and a right to a healthy environment were not enough, the United Nations Environment Program states that environmental rights are essentially the human right to environmental conditions of a specialized quality. Environmental rights are substantive, or fundamental rights. The UN Environment Program states that these substantive rights are those in which the environment directly affects the existence of said right or its enjoyment. Economic, social, cultural, political, and civil rights, according to UN Environment, are all substantive rights. So, it appears as though the UN would argue that a right to a healthy environment is outlined in international human rights covenants and legal frameworks. However, this by no means indicates a universal respect of this right. Paradoxically, human rights are regularly violated by means of environmental degradation instigated by government and non-government entities, and thus, the right to a healthy environment is violated along with other, more recognized rights. Hope is on the horizon, however, through international agreements such as the Paris Accords and international efforts to combat climate change, inadvertently supporting a right to the environment. In conclusion, we have a right to a healthy environment and it is important to note when this right is being respected and when it is being blatantly violated. Many challenges stand in the way of environmental rights, especially development and extractive industries. Human greed is a powerful thing. Recognizing a healthy environment as a substantive right, however, is the first step in the right direction. Comments are closed.
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