The successes of the human rights movement led to the idea to apply a rights-based approach to confront global environmental devastation. But it was not until the Stockholm Conference in 1972 that the right to a healthy environment was explicitly recognised in an international environmental law document.
The Stockholm Declaration had a major impact on the next two decades of the development of international environmental law. However, it took until 1992 to the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro to reiterate the link between the rights of human beings and the protection of the environment. Principle 1 of the Rio Declaration reads as follows: “Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.” The principles of both Declarations are based on a rights approach which is still relatively new to the concept of international environmental law.
Neither the Stockholm nor the Rio Declaration is intended to create legally binding rights, but they build the basis for the discussion about the right to a healthy environment. Apart from these two principles, there are many other international and European conventions, declarations and resolutions which provide different norms aiming at the protection of specific human rights, such as e.g. the right of life and the right to standard of living adequate to health and well-being. These specific human rights always contain a component that is linked to the right to a healthy environment, since e.g. the right of life can be infringed if a human being has to live without access to clean water. These specific human rights are actionable which makes them very powerful.
WECF provides information amongst the partner organizations and the general public on how to use international legal mechanisms for the protection of our environment and our health. Also, WECF takes action to stir the discussion about a right to a healthy environment as a separate right.
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