Animal Rights as an Integral Tenet of Environmental Policy: Statutory Constructs and Regulatory Pathways toward SDG 15 Realisation
Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The crossroads of environmental protection and animal rights have become one of the defining key factors to the attainment of SDG 15, which is Life on Land.With the growing international understanding of the relationship between animal welfare, conservation of biodiversity and health of ecosystems, countries all around the world are redefining legal systems that are no longer based upon traditional anthropocentric theories.Animal protection in environmental governance is increasingly being incorporated into the wider international agenda through international instruments such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and CITES, and through the emerging new standards of animal welfare and welfare standards.The acknowledgement by the European Union of animals as sentient beings, the innovative effort of the legislation in New Zealand and the constitutional reforms in Latin America have shown different but convergent methods.Nevertheless, a translation of the international commitments into practical domestic policies is not an easy task, especially in the developing countries that have been identified as rich in biodiversity.The case of India is quite interesting, whereby its constitutional provisions, as presented in the 48A and 51A(g), formed special grounds regarding the protection of the environment and animals.The presented paper evaluates animal rights as one of the key building blocks of environmental policy, determines the challenges of its implementation, considers the potential to transform the world through the recent Supreme Court ruling, and creates a coherent taxonomic legal model that puts animal rights at the centre to achieve SDG 15 goals and ensure balanced ecosystems, which serve human and ecological needs.
Author: Swarnima Gorani
Institution: Sharda University
Language: English
Topic: Animal Law and Welfare
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7167480199