Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I General instruments
- PART II Atmosphere
- PART III Oceans: global
- PART IIIB Oceans: regional
- PART IV Freshwater resources
- PART V Biodiversity
- PART VIA Hazardous substances and activities: nuclear
- PART VIB Hazardous substances and activities: pesticides
- PART VIC Hazardous substances and activities: waste
- PART VII Human rights and the environment
- Introduction
- 31 European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 4 November 1950 (extract)
- 32 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, 27 June 1981 (extract)
- 33 Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the ‘Protocol of San Salvador’), 17 November 1988 (extract)
- PART VIII War and the environment
- PART IX Trade and the environment
- PART X Environmental impact assessment and access to information
- PART XI Liability for environmental damage and breaches of environmental obligations
- PART XII The Antarctic
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I General instruments
- PART II Atmosphere
- PART III Oceans: global
- PART IIIB Oceans: regional
- PART IV Freshwater resources
- PART V Biodiversity
- PART VIA Hazardous substances and activities: nuclear
- PART VIB Hazardous substances and activities: pesticides
- PART VIC Hazardous substances and activities: waste
- PART VII Human rights and the environment
- Introduction
- 31 European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 4 November 1950 (extract)
- 32 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, 27 June 1981 (extract)
- 33 Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the ‘Protocol of San Salvador’), 17 November 1988 (extract)
- PART VIII War and the environment
- PART IX Trade and the environment
- PART X Environmental impact assessment and access to information
- PART XI Liability for environmental damage and breaches of environmental obligations
- PART XII The Antarctic
Summary
Editorial note
As it has developed, international environmental law raises many issues familiar to international human rights lawyers. In the environmental context, questions related to the existence and application of minimum international standards and the proper role of individuals and other non-governmental organisations in the international legal process have raised analogous issues to those arising in international human rights law. The development of international human rights lawpredates international environmental lawand provides a rich source of experience. Since the 1960s the two subjects have developed in parallel, intersecting with increasing frequency. The extent to which international environmental law should adopt an anthropocentric approach, based on the view that environmental protection is primarily justified as a means of protecting humans rather than as an end in itself, was an important issue at UNCED. The Rio Declaration supports an anthropocentric approach: the first Principle states that ‘Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.’ Legal developments in other for a and contexts, however, reflect a greater environmental consciousness and suggest that the protection of the environment is increasingly an objective justified in its own terms, and not simply a means of protecting humans.
Only two regional human rights treaties expressly recognise environmental rights, the African Charter and the San Salvador Protocol to the 1969 ACHR.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Documents in International Environmental Law , pp. 975 - 976Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004