Book Review: Environmental Rights: The Development of Standards

Abstract

‘Environmental rights’ is one of the most elusive phrases in modern environmental governance due to the vagueness of content and the breadth of scope. Yet, continuous efforts have been made to translate human rights obligations into more tangible environmental standards. The edited collection, Environmental Rights: The Development of Standards, is therefore an eagerly awaited guide to the many types of standards that have emerged in the field and exploration of the topic is comprehensive and sophisticated. The book addresses not only environmental standards from a specific regime at the international, regional, national and subnational levels but also those related to a particular type of right or initiative. This includes the right to water, rights of nature, free prior and informed consent, and multinational environmental agreements (p. 16). Composed of 18 chapters, the volume begins with a historical narrative of the development of environmental rights. In the introductory chapter, ambiguities caused by the broad scope of environmental rights are discussed to highlight the need for greater precision in the levels of environmental protection. Specifically, for the substantive right to an environment that is ‘healthy’, ‘safe’ and ‘clean’, uncertainties remain, as legal practitioners question the exact meaning of these objectives. For procedural environmental rights, including the right to information, participation and judicial remedy, there are issues around the precise levels of information disclosure, public involvement and judicial access (p. 2). This book therefore tackles a key question: What are the standards of environmental protection developed within the field of environmental rights? In developing their answers, all authors make the underlying assumption that human rights instruments are important tools for environmental protection, but that the precise levels of protection conferred by environmental rights demand further clarification. They aim to clarify or provide guidance on the standards of protection relating to environmental rights from various perspectives. Some highlight the specific standards that have developed in international institutions, regional regimes and national constitutions and legislation. Specifically, Atapattu explores how international human rights covenants have developed environmental rights by creatively interpreting existing rights (p. 18), including the right to life, indigenous groups’ right to culture, the right to food and water and the right to health. It is concluded that the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights apply flexible yet subjective standards such as ‘effective’, ‘adequate’ or ‘sufficient’ (p. 38). Morrow investigates the standards for triggering judicial intervention in environment-based claims in the European Court of Human Rights. She identifies that the intervention demands a fair balance between individual rights and public interest, the Environmental Law Review