Human rights and the environment in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Human rights are considered ethical demands that operate at an elevated juridical level. They have become popular legal constructs that contribute to the traditional instrumentalist and the more esoteric functions of law. While there is often considerable criticism leveled against human rights, as creatures of law and as legal mechanisms possessing unique characteristics, they are also uniquely situated and able to perform a singular mediating role in the human–environment interface. The recent mushrooming of rights to a healthy environment, environmental-related procedural rights and other substantive political and socio-economic rights bearing on environmental interests, is testimony to their increasing popularity. Yet, despite their prevalence in the environmental regulatory domain, the arrival of the Anthropocene is possibly set to require a complete rethink of the way in which we use human rights to mediate the human–environment interface. This is because the Anthropocene presents an urgent call for dramatic regulatory interventions of a kind hitherto unseen. Accepting the continuing prevalence of human rights as part of the environmental regulatory domain, this article argues that there is every reason to believe that their traditional role, nature, objectives and construction should change because of the Anthropocene. The article carries this argument by discussing the Anthropocene and its features that might influence conceptions of human rights and the environment as they are currently embedded in the social institutions of environmental law and governance. The argument then uses climate change as a useful explanatory context to identify and to understand the different types of rights issues that might arise in the Anthropocene. The next part of the discussion then takes stock of human rights in the environmental context by evaluating the way in which they currently mediate the human–environment interface. The article concludes with suggestions founding a re-imagination of the relationship between human rights and the environment in the Anthropocene.

The Implementation of Earth Jurisprudence through Substantive Constitutional Rights of Nature

“…Authors, such as Kotzé [43,44,54], Bosselmann [5,9] and Bodansky [53], have investigated whether or not we already have an "international environmental constitution". The answer seems to be "no", international environmental law appears to constitute merely the commitments by states, rather than a constitutional order [50].…”

“…In any case, some might say the rule of law is an "anthropocentric ideal" [44] because its ultimate aim is the protection of the rights of humans. This means that per definition the rule of law may be little concerned about, or has no relevance for, nature as a subject of legal rules.…”

The relationship between the principle of sustainable development and the human right to a clean and healthy environment in Kenya’s legal context: An appraisal

“…In making this finding, the court gave credence to the argument that ecologically SD demands restriction of 'social-economical activities that obstruct natural cycles, structures and functions while promoting ecological resilience'. 73 It affirmed that survival of human beings depends not only on the availability of clean water as an isolated public good but on the factors upon which their well-being depends. Given that all life depends on well-functioning hydrological systems, this reasoning has shown that the ecocentrism contemplated under the principle of SD is not necessarily misanthropic because it benefits human beings who depend on different natural systems and biological process for survival.…”

Implications of the Bioinclusive Ethic on Collaborative and Participatory Design.

“…see Ceballos et al, 2015;Ripple et al, 2017;Watts, 2018). Humans tend to focus on their own needs while ignoring, diminishing or denigrating the needs of other species and natural systems (Hajjar Leib, 2011;Kotzé, 2014). The anthropocentric culture has manifested itself strongly also in design.…”