Human Rights-based Approach to Environmental Protection: Kenyan, South African and Nigerian Constitutional Architecture and Experience

Abstract

In the international development of human rights, there is controversy on whether there exists a human right to the environment; if so, is such a right supportive or inimical to sustainable development? The question draws from two important standpoints. First, the UN Charter and core human rights instruments did not explicitly capture environment issues as part of human rights discourse. Second, the role of human beings in environmental protection, pitting anthropocentric and ecocentric arguments has meant that there is no unanimity that the rights of human beings are supportive of the right of the environment. In 2010, Kenya adopted a transformative Constitution. The Constitution followed the path of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and borrowed from that of South Africa, by recognizing that human beings have a fundamental right to the environment. Based on a comparative analysis of Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, this chapter argues that in application, environmental rights are more collective than individual. Human rights-based approach to environmental protection must temper individuality to guarantee sustainability.