The right to a clean environment

For millions of years, nature has remained man`s biggest benefactor. This unequal partnership between two partners, which has seen one feed off the other for years without giving anything in return has come under considerable strain in the last few decades. Man`s relationship with nature is as old as any other. From the beginning, when […]

For millions of years, nature has remained man`s biggest benefactor. This unequal partnership between two partners, which has seen one feed off the other for years without giving anything in return has come under considerable strain in the last few decades.

Man`s relationship with nature is as old as any other. From the beginning, when man found himself surrounded by nature, he had to depend on it for virtually everything.

On October 8, 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution 48/13 recognising that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right.

More than anything, the resolution was a testament to the fact that human reality, as it is known, is undergoing fundamental changes.

 As man`s experience has grown out over many years of existence, the level of dependence on a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for food, water and general well-being has become easier to spot.

All over the world, more than 150 countries recognise and protect the right to a healthy environment through their constitutions, national laws, judiciaries or ratification of international instruments.

The United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote on a draft resolution recognising the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

 By recognising the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the General Assembly could catalyse more ambitious, coherent and coordinated action to protect the environment. When the UN General Assembly recognised the rights to water and sanitation, this much was achieved.

 Because human rights are inalienable, they are not the creation of any government. No government has the right to create human rights. They can only be recognised by governments, which can give them teeth using the instruments of law and the state.

There is no doubt that those who have the right to water and sanitation must also be recognised as having the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

 They necessarily go hand in hand and can go a really long way in reaffirming the dignity of men as should be lived. The need to advance the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment cannot be overemphasised.

Unfortunately, continuing harmful practices, insufficient action and inaction by government and other duty-bearers with respect to the protection of the environment threaten the progress needed to protect the environment for all people.

The irony of environmental injustice is that those who have contributed the least to environmental degradation are often those at the highest risk of experiencing its worst human rights impacts.

Environmental degradation disproportionately affects the poor, women and girls, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and children, among others.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recognised that for people in vulnerable situations, a rights-based and inclusive approach to environmental action can make a real difference in their lives while also supporting better environmental outcomes.

 Recognising, this all-important right will do the environment and those who benefit therefrom a world of good.

Kene Obiezu can be reached through [email protected]