The human right to a healthy environment

"To make the citizen active and involved in the protection of the environment"

The right to a healthy environment is a fundamental human right that has not yet been enshrined in international conventions or in the Constitution of many countries, although its various aspects are recognized. Every day we observe the effects of global warming and experience the disasters that are happening, most recently in Greece, as well as the loss of biodiversity and pollution. The risk is very serious and the phenomena due to climate change affect basic human rights, such as the right to life and, by extension, the life of everyone and their families. It is the duty of every citizen to be aware and fight for the protection and preservation of the environment, while at the same time he is entitled to demand the same approach from the state to refrain from or prevent activities and execution of projects that may harm the environment.

Each piece of legislation, before being passed into law, should be studied during the legislative process, with the participation of citizens with whom there is the necessary consultation, in order to promote the protection of the environment. Since the citizen is the one who suffers the effects of climate change, it should be possible by establishing legal procedures, where illegal situations are found, to be able to demand judicial protection of the environment, compensations as well as the issuance of an order for the removal or cessation of illegal activity.

Despite global declarations and treaties regarding human rights, to date the human right to enjoy a healthy or clean environment has not been explicitly recognized. The UN Human Rights Council in its recent Resolution of October 8, 2021, recognizes access to a healthy and sustainable environment as a universal right. It only encourages States to build on their efforts in order to fulfill their human rights obligations and commitments, particularly strengthening cooperation in the implementation of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

The situation in Europe, at the level of the European Union and the Council of Europe, is not better, since a text recognizing the human or fundamental right to the environment has not yet been produced. They did, however, ratify and form part of European Union law the UN Aarhus Convention, which regulates three pillars for effective citizen participation in environmental protection, i.e. public access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice.

The European Convention on Human Rights is recognized worldwide as the leading international treaty for the declaration and protection of human rights. However, it does not guarantee the human fundamental right to the environment either, and the fact is attributed to the fact that at the time it was agreed upon, there was no awareness of environmental issues. Although the Convention remains silent, the European Court of Human Rights has developed a very interesting jurisprudence, interpreting its various provisions in an ecological and environmental approach. The provisions of the Convention interpreted with this approach are Article 8 regarding the respect for the right to private and family life, Article 2 regarding the right to life and Article 6 regarding the right to a fair trial. Article 1 of the Additional Protocol to the Convention, which protects the right to private property, has been used in the reasoning of the Court's decisions.

It is clear that the European Court of Human Rights, in its approach to many issues through its decisions, explicitly recognizes the human right to the environment, using a more liberal and broader interpretation of fundamental human rights, giving them a somewhat "green" dimension. The Court has already ruled on more than 100 environment-related cases, touching on a wide variety of issues such as pollution, access to information and natural disasters. The development of jurisprudence in this field is impressive as it reinforces the interconnection between environmental protection and human rights.

Some European countries have included in their Constitution the existence of a fundamental human right to the environment, to a healthy and balanced environment. In some other countries even though there is no constitutional recognition, their Constitutional Court has finally recognized these rights with the green light on other related rights such as the right to health. (*See, A Fundamental Right To The Environment: A matter For Local And Regional Authorities, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.)