Toward Environmental Democracy? Procedural Environmental Rights and Environmental Justice

Abstract

The global trend toward adopting environmental rights within national constitutions has been largely regarded as a positive development for both human rights and the natural environment. The impact of constitutional environmental rights, however, has yet to be systematically assessed using empirical data. In particular, expanding procedural environmental rights—legal provisions relating to access to information, participation, and justice in environmental matters—provides fertile ground for analyzing how environmental rights directly interface with conditions necessary for a functioning democracy. To understand the extent to which these provisions deliver on their lofty aspirations, we conducted a quantitative analysis to assess the relationship between procedural environmental rights and environmental justice, while also controlling for the extent of democracy within a country. The results suggest that states with procedural environmental rights are more likely than nonadopting states to facilitate attaining environmental justice, especially as it relates to access to information.

Energy justice in the transition to low carbon energy systems: Exploring key themes in interdisciplinary research

“…for being dominated by quantitative distributional based examinations [18]. More recent scholarship in environment [52,53], energy [54,55] and climate justice [56,57] The set of papers demonstrates the unwavering commitment of justice scholarship to quantitative (social) research design and application. We find a range of large and small scale survey-based approaches designed to explore the effectiveness of planning processes [58], social acceptability and transactions costs [59] or a comprehensive analysis of energy user experiences [60].…”

Procedural Environmental Injustice in ‘Europe’s Greenest City’: A Case Study into the Felling of Sheffield’s Street Trees

“…This is despite the need for provocative projects to seek public involvement early on 'to encourage consensus and legitimise the process' (Walters et al 2000, p. 354). Empirical evidence also demonstrates that public participation infuses decisions with local knowledge, produces higher-quality planning outcomes (Laurian 2004, p. 53), as well as better environmental decisions and conservation efforts (Gellers and Jeffords 2018). There are also ongoing questions about the opacity of both decision-making and decision-makers, both of which bely the lack of transparent communication structures needed to promote information sharing-a feature which also inhibits the accountability of those involved (Bostrom 2012; George and Reed 2017).…”

The constitutional determinants of planetary health

“…8 Indeed, countries with constitutions guaranteeing access to information and the right to participate in environmental governance have been shown to systemically achieve favourable outcomes in environmental justice, relative to countries whose constitutions do not have such features. 9 The power of constitutions over planetary health must not be exaggerated. In some countries constitutions are more often honoured in the breach than the observance, regardless of their content.…”