Constructing the human right to a healthy environment

Abstract

Despite the absence of a right to a healthy environment in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or any global human rights treaty, environmental human rights law has rapidly developed over the past 25 years along three paths: (a) the widespread adoption of environmental rights in regional treaties and national constitutions; (b) the greening of other human rights, such as the rights to life and health, through their application to environmental issues; and (c) the inclusion in multilateral environmental instruments of rights of access to information, public participation, and access to justice. After describing these developments, this review assesses the possible effects of UN recognition of the human right to a healthy environment, both on the environment and on human rights law itself.