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Contribution to Book
Environmental Dignity Rights
The Effectiveness of Environmental Law (2017)
  • Erin Daly
  • James R. May
Abstract
The threats to human rights caused by environmental degradation – including those caused by climate change – are increasingly evident. And yet, there continues to be confusion and lack of consensus about how human rights will be affected, as demonstrated at the recent climate talks in Paris and Marrakech. Taking better advantage of the role of constitutionally-instantiated dignity rights can help to diffuse this dissonance. Most of the effects that environmental degradation has on people can be seen in threats to their ability to live in dignity, including the ability to fully develop one's personality, to live in community, and to claim other rights. The right to dignity, though rooted in international law, is recognized in most of the world's constitutions and a robust jurisprudence of dignity rights has been developing in many countries. We conclude that environmental outcomes -- including climate change -- can and should be informed by dignity rights and corresponding jurisprudence, a synthesis we call “environmental dignity rights."
Keywords
  • human dignity,
  • environmental law,
  • constitutional rights,
  • climate change
Disciplines
Publication Date
2017
Editor
Sandrine Maljean-Dubois
Publisher
Intersentia
Series
European Environmental Law Forum Series, vol. 3
Citation Information
Erin Daly and James R. May. "Environmental Dignity Rights" CambridgeThe Effectiveness of Environmental Law (2017) p. 125
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/erin_daly/48/