The European Court of Human Rights and International Environmental Law
Year: 2018
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This paper considers the relationship between international environmental law and the case law from the European Court of Human Rights which engages with environmental rights. The paper considers what impact the potential creation of a right to a healthy environment in international law might have on the Court’s case law in light of the Court's tendency to rely on international environmental rules in support of its reasoning. In light of this, the paper finds that the creation of a right to a healthy environment in international law might provide the Court with further impetus and support for developing its environmental rights case law. On the other hand, the fact that the Court has, through mildly activist means of interpretation, been able to accommodate modern concerns for environmental harms (notwithstanding the inherent limitations in the Court’s case law), suggests that the absence of a right to a healthy environment on the international plane does not necessarily exclude the development of environmental rights jurisprudence in regional human rights forums.
Author: Ole W. Pedersen
Institution: Newcastle University
Language: English
Topic: Environmental law and policy
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3096974019