IJSSER

Title: Exploring the Right to a Healthy Environment: Dimensions and Concerns
Authors: Poonam Kanwal
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Poonam Kanwal Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi
MLA 8 Kanwal, Poonam. "Exploring the Right to a Healthy Environment: Dimensions and Concerns." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 9, no. 12, Dec. 2024, pp. 5720-5736, doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2024.v09i12.006. Accessed Dec. 2024. APA 6 Kanwal, P. (2024, December). Exploring the Right to a Healthy Environment: Dimensions and Concerns. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 9(12), 5720-5736. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2024.v09i12.006 Chicago Kanwal, Poonam. "Exploring the Right to a Healthy Environment: Dimensions and Concerns." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 9, no. 12 (December 2024), 5720-5736. Accessed December, 2024. https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2024.v09i12.006.
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ABSTRACT: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) and the two key covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966)—which together form the International Bill of Human Rights does not explicitly recognize the right to a healthy environment as a standalone human right. Formal recognition of this right began with the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (1972), marking the first global acknowledgment of environmental rights and catalyzing its emergence within "third-generation" rights. These are collective rights that emphasize solidarity and require cooperative action among nations and communities for meaningful implementation. As global environmental challenges intensified, awareness of environmental rights has expanded at international, regional, and national levels. In the shift toward constitutional democracy, many countries have embedded the right to a healthy environment in their constitutions or established legislative frameworks to protect it. This constitutional or legislative recognition represents a transformative approach, reorienting legal systems to prioritize environmental sustainability. Such measures can strengthen environmental regulations, improve government accountability, expand public access to information, foster public engagement, improve access to justice, and reduce environmental inequalities. The “right to a healthy environment” has multiple dimensions. While it is classified as a third generation right, it straddles with elements of first- and second-generation rights. The right to a healthy environment is both a moral and a legal right, a procedural and substantive right, a positive as well as a negative right, and a collective and individual right. This article delineates multiple dimensions of the right to a healthy environment. It also captures some of the important criticisms leveled against it.

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