Human Rights, Environmental Duties: People, Planet & State

Abstract

All elements of human well-being are ultimately dependent upon a natural environment which provides access to sufficient food and water, promotes both mental and physical health, and ultimately, permits life itself. In seeking the universal achievement of these goods, international human rights law must begin to require States to take strong action to meet the challenges posed by escalating environmental disintegrity.

This thesis examines the extent to which the existing international human rights regime provides a means to achieve this. The role of population management as one means of meeting environmental obligations will be discussed, with the goal of demonstrating that the existing law provides a powerful tool both for the advancement of individual rights and for environmental protection. The latter half will consider how the current law incorporates explicit environmental duties, as well as the potential scope for development of these in the future. The debate surrounding the introduction of an 'environmental human right' will be outlined, with the ultimate conclusion that the law as it already exists is more than capable of adequately addressing environmental degradation – all that is required is that it be interpreted and realised in an environmentally cognisant way.