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Theright to a healthy environment orthe right to a sustainable and healthy environment is ahuman right advocated by human rights organizations and environmental organizations to protect the ecological systems that provide human health.[1][2][3] The right was acknowledged by theUnited Nations Human Rights Council during its 48th session in October 2021 inHRC/RES/48/13[4] and subsequently by theUnited Nations General Assembly on July 28, 2022 in A/RES/76/300.[5][6] The right is often the basis forhuman rights defense by environmental defenders, such asland defenders,water protectors andindigenous rights activists.
The right is interconnected with other health-focused human rights, such as theright to water and sanitation,right to food andright to health.[7] The right to a healthy environment uses a human rights approach to protect environmental quality; this approach addresses the impact of environmental harm upon individual humans, as opposed to the more traditional approach of environmental regulation which focuses on impacts to other states or the environment itself.[8] Yet another approach to environmental protection isrights of nature which tries to extend the rights enjoyed by humans and corporations to nature as well.[9]
The right creates an obligation of the state to regulate and enforceenvironmental laws, controlpollution, and otherwise provide justice and protections for communities harmed by environmental problems.[8] The right to a healthy environment has been an important right for creating environmental legal precedents forclimate change litigation and other environmental issues.[11][12]
Anenvironmental rights amendment, also called a green amendment, is type ofamendment usually proposed to aconstitution or abill of rights. These amendments guarantee citizens the right to a healthy environment. Related rights included in these proposals often include a right to a stable climate, clean air and water,environmental justice,preservation of natural, scenic, esthetic and historic values of the environment.[13][14]
The right to a healthy environment can be implemented into constitutional law other ways, such as written into constitutions in their drafting, such as inTunisia, or enforced throughclimate change litigation, such as in Colombia. In the United States, most advocates are focused on amending existing state constitutions or enforcing existing state constitutions, such as inHeld v. Montana, where youth won a trial court judgment for enforcement the existing state constitution.[15]
Historically, major United Nations' human rights instruments, like theUniversal Declaration on Human Rights, theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights orInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights do not recognize the right to a healthy environment.[3] The1972 Stockholm Declaration recognizes the right, but is not a legally binding document. The1992 Rio Declaration does not use the language of human rights, although it does state that individuals shall have access to information regarding environmental matters, participation in decision-making, and access to justice.[18] The currently proposed UN resolution, theGlobal Pact for the Environment, if adopted, would be the first UN human rights instrument to include the right to a healthy environment.[19]
Over 150 states in the UN have independently recognized the right in some form via legislation, litigation, constitutional law, treaty law or other legal authority.[7] TheAfrican Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights,American Convention on Human Rights,Escazu Agreement,Arab Charter on Human Rights, andASEAN Declaration on Human Rights each include a right to a healthy environment.[3][20][21] Other human rights frameworks, such as theConvention on the Rights of the Child refer to environmental issues as they relate to the framework's focus, in this casechildren's rights.[20]
UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights and the EnvironmentJohn H. Knox (2012–2018) andDavid R. Boyd (2018–) have made recommendations on how to formalize these rights in international law.[3][22] This was endorsed by a number of committees at the UN level, as well as local legal communities such as theNew York City Bar,[23] in 2020.
The right to a healthy environment is at the core of the international approach tohuman rights and climate change.[24][25] The effects of climate change on human rights are presented by OHCHR in a fact sheet with the most frequently asked questions on the subject.[26]
In 2021 during its 48th session, theUnited Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution (put forward by the core group comprising Costa Rica, Morocco, Slovenia, Switzerland and the Maldives, withCosta Rica beingpenholder), recognizing "The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment", marking the first time that the body declared a human right.[4][27][28] The resolution is not legally binding, but it "invites theUnited Nations General Assembly to consider the matter".[27]
In 2022 during its 76th session, theUnited Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution put forward by a core group including Costa Rica, Morocco, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the Maldives once again recognizing the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.[29] Although General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, this resolution was welcomed byUN High Commissioner for Human RightsMichelle Bachelet,[30] multiple special rapporteurs[6] and members of some civil society organizations.[31][32]
Theconcept of ahuman right to ahealthy environment has evolved over severaldecades, shaped by both international initiatives and nationallegislation. The earliest formal recognition can be traced to the 1972United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm,Sweden, which acknowledged that humans have a fundamental right to “freedom,equality, and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life ofdignity and well-being.” This conference laid the groundwork for integrating environmental concerns within human rights frameworks.[33]
In the following decades,regional and national instruments began to incorporateenvironmental rights. For example, several African constitutions, including those ofSouth Africa andTunisia, explicitly recognize the right to a healthy environment. Similarly, theAarhus Convention (1998) inEurope established procedural rights related to environmental protection, including access toinformation, public participation, and access to justice.[34]
Internationally,advocacy and legal scholarship have emphasized the interconnection between environmental protection and fundamental human rights such as theright to health,food,water, andlife. This culminated in theUnited Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 48/13 (2021), which recognized a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. Subsequently, in 2022, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted a resolution recognizing the right to a healthy environment, marking a significant milestone ininternational law.[35]
Today, the right to a healthy environment is increasingly referenced inclimate litigation, environmental policymaking, and human rights advocacy, reflecting its growing importance in addressing global environmental challenges, frompollution anddeforestation toclimate change andbiodiversity loss.[36]
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