The Global Emergence of Constitutional Environmental Rights

The Global Emergence of Constitutional Environmental Rights
Author: Joshua C. Gellers
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2017-05-18
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1315524392

Over the past 40 years, countries throughout the world have similarly adopted human rights related to environmental governance and protection in national constitutions. Interestingly, these countries vary widely in terms of geography, politics, history, resources, and wealth. This raises the question: why do some countries have constitutional environmental rights while others do not? Bringing together theory from law, political science, and sociology, a global statistical analysis, and a comparative study of constitutional design in South Asia, Gellers presents a comprehensive response to this important question. Moving beyond normative debates and anecdotal developments in case law, as well as efforts to describe and categorize such rights around the world, this book provides a systematic analysis of the expansion of environmental rights using social science methods and theory. The resulting theoretical framework and empirical evidence offer new insights into how domestic and international factors interact during the constitution drafting process to produce new law that is both locally relevant and globally resonant. Scholars, practitioners, and students of law, political science, and sociology interested in understanding how institutions cope with complex problems like environmental degradation and human rights violations will find this book to be essential reading.

The Environmental Rights Revolution

The Environmental Rights Revolution
Author: David R. Boyd
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2011-11-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0774821639

The right to a healthy environment has been the subject of extensive philosophical debates that revolve around the question: Should rights to clean air, water, and soil be entrenched in law? David Boyd answers this by moving beyond theoretical debates to measure the practical effects of enshrining the right in constitutions. His pioneering analysis of 193 constitutions and the laws and court decisions of more than 100 nations in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa reveals a positive correlation between constitutional protection and stronger environmental laws, smaller ecological footprints, superior environmental performance, and improved quality of life.

Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law

Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law
Author: James R. May
Publisher: American Bar Association
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Constitutional law
ISBN: 9781614380870

Constitutional dimensions are at the heart of many environmental and energy law cases and policies. This comprehensive provides an authoritative account and analysis of the growing intersection of constitutional and environmental law, with chapters featuring a useful practice tip and concluding with a relevant case study. Beginning with an introduction to the field of constitutional environmental law, chapters examine federal and state authority respecting environmental law and policy; judicial review; individual; and emerging constitutional issues in environmental law.

Global Environmental Constitutionalism

Global Environmental Constitutionalism
Author: James R. May
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2015
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107022258

Reflecting a global trend, scores of countries have affirmed that their citizens are entitled to healthy air, water, and land and that their constitution should guarantee certain environmental rights. This book examines the increasing recognition that the environment is a proper subject for protection in constitutional texts and for vindication by constitutional courts. This phenomenon, which the authors call environmental constitutionalism, represents the confluence of constitutional law, international law, human rights, and environmental law. National apex and constitutional courts are exhibiting a growing interest in environmental rights, and as courts become more aware of what their peers are doing, this momentum is likely to increase. This book explains why such provisions came into being, how they are expressed, and the extent to which they have been, and might be, enforced judicially. It is a singular resource for evaluating the content of and hope for constitutional environmental rights.

Constitutional Environmental Rights

Constitutional Environmental Rights
Author: Tim Hayward
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2005
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199278679

This book shows why a fundamental right to an adequate environment ought to be provided in the constitution of any modern democratic state. It explains why the right to an environment adequate for one's health and well-being is a genuine human right and why it ought to be constitutionalised.

The Green Amendment

The Green Amendment
Author: Maya K. Van Rossum
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Environmental policy
ISBN: 9781633310216

2017 INDIE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD FINALIST "A rallying cry . . . Everyone who is concerned about the welfare of all species, including human beings. Please read this important book." --Richard Louv, chairman emeritus of the Children & Nature Network and author of LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS and THE NATURE PRINCIPLE The Constitutional Change We Need to Protect Our Priceless Natural Resources For decades, activists have relied on federal and state legislation to fight for a cleaner environment. And for decades, they've been fighting a losing battle. The sad truth is, our laws are designed to accommodate pollution rather than prevent it. It's no wonder people feel powerless when it comes to preserving the quality of their water, air, public parks, and special natural spaces. But there is a solution, argues veteran environmentalist Maya K. van Rossum: bypass the laws and turn to the ultimate authority--our state and federal constitutions. In 2013, van Rossum and her team won a watershed legal victory that not only protected Pennsylvania communities from ruthless frackers but affirmed the constitutional right of people in the state to a clean and healthy environment. Following this victory, van Rossum inaugurated the Green Amendment movement, dedicated to empowering every American community to mobilize for constitutional change. Now, with The Green Amendment, van Rossum lays out an inspiring new agenda for environmental advocacy, one that will finally empower people, level the playing field, and provide real hope for communities everywhere. Readers will discover how legislative environmentalism has failed communities across America, the transformational difference environmental constitutionalism can make, the economic imperative of environmental constitutionalism, and how to take action in their communities. We all have the right to pure water, clean air, and a healthy environment. It's time to claim that right--for our own sake and that of future generations.

A Global Environmental Right

A Global Environmental Right
Author: Stephen Turner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2013-09-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135090254

The development of an international substantive environmental right on a global level has long been a contested issue. To a limited extent environmental rights have developed in a fragmented way through different legal regimes. This book examines the potential for the development of a global environmental right that would create legal duties for all types of decision-makers and provide the bedrock for a new system of international environmental governance. Taking a problem solving approach, the book seeks to demonstrate how straightforward and logical changes to the existing global legal architecture would address some of the fundamental root causes of environmental degradation. It puts forward a draft global environmental right that would integrate duties for both state and non-state actors within reformed systems of environmental governance and a rational framework for business and industry to adhere to in order that those systems could be made operational. It also examines the failures of the existing international climate change regime and explains how the draft global environmental right could remedy existing deficits. This innovative and interdisciplinary book will be of great interest to policy-makers, students and researchers in international environmental law, climate change, environmental politics and global environmental governance as well as those studying the WTO, international trade law, human rights law, constitutional law and corporate law.

Environmental Human Rights and Climate Change

Environmental Human Rights and Climate Change
Author: Bridget Lewis
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2018-08-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 981131960X

This book examines the current status of environmental human rights at the international, regional, and national levels and provides a critical analysis of possible future developments in this area, particularly in the context of a changing climate. It examines various conceptualisations of environmental human rights, including procedural rights relating to the environment, constitutional environmental rights, the environmental dimensions of existing human rights such as the rights to water, health, food, housing and life, and the notion of a stand-alone human right to a healthy environment. The book addresses the topic from a variety of perspectives, drawing on underlying theories of human rights as well as a range of legal, political, and pragmatic considerations. It examines the scope of current human rights, particularly those enshrined in international and regional human rights law, to explore their application and enforceability in relation to environmental problems, identifying potential barriers to more effective implementation. It also analyses the rationale for constitutional recognition of environmental rights and considers the impact that this area of law has had, both in terms of achieving stronger environmental protection and environmental justice, as well as in influencing the development of human rights law more generally. The book identifies climate change as the key environmental challenge facing the global community, as well as a major cause of negative human rights impacts. It examines the contribution that environmental human rights might make to rights-based approaches to climate change.

Environmental Rights

Environmental Rights
Author: Stephen J. Turner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2019-05-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108482244

A comprehensive and systematic guide to environmental rights and their relationship with standards of protection globally, nationally and locally.