137
2.1 David Richard Boyd’s Book the Environmental
Rights Revolution
Environmental lawyer David Richard Boyd’s 2012 book The Environmental Rights
Revolution traces three world wide developments since World War II that have led to
the environmental rights movement around the world. The first was the United
Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which included a variety of
rights including rights to life/security, food, water, health, and an adequate standard of
living. The second development was a warning of an impending environmental crisis
presented in Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, The Silent Spring. Subsequent analyses by
scientists revealed the crisis of excessive climate change arising from man-made green
house gas emissions. A specific human right related to this climate change crisis is the
right to a healthy environment. The third development was a wave of new and amended
constitutions in many of the world’s 192 countries. “In fact, 130 constitutions in the
world, including the overwhelming proportion of those amended or written since
1970, include a state obligation to protect the environment or the right to a safe, healthy
and ecologically sustainable environment (Brown and Brown 2015, pp. 170–171).”
2.2 Environmental Rights Provisions in Constitutions
Today, societal actors in many countries are engaged in the process of attempting to
transform today’s unsustainable societies into more healthy and sustainable ones.
This exercise includes the counterbalancing of property rights with the right to a
healthy, sustainable environment for individuals. In this comparative study of constitutions in 192 countries world wide, Boyd notes that “Constitutional environmental provisions have substantially increased the public’s role in environmental
governance (Boyd 2012, p. 239).”
Boyd raises two specific questions about environmental rights provisions in
constitutions:
• Do provisions of environmental rights in constitutions, and in particular, the right
to live in a healthy environment, matter?
• Do they have observable legal and extra legal effects that contribute to improved
environmental protection and reduce the risks to human health? Extra legal
effects include the evolution of public opinion, attitudes, values and behaviour
that may arise as a result of the existence of a constitutional rights provision.
Boyd argues that constitutions in democracies articulate values (or aims) that
govern political and social discourse for generations to come. These values are protected by incorporating them as rights of individuals and groups. Courts are empowered through the process of judicial review to be the guardian of these rights so as to
protect vulnerable groups against the tyranny of the majority (Boyd 2012, p. 5).
This conception of constitutions is similar to that of Aristotle as explained in the
following. The achievement of the objective of equality of justice requires that the
Protected Wilderness: Is It Still Possible?
2.1 David Richard Boyd’s Book the Environmental
Rights Revolution
Environmental lawyer David Richard Boyd’s 2012 book The Environmental Rights
Revolution traces three world wide developments since World War II that have led to
the environmental rights movement around the world. The first was the United
Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which included a variety of
rights including rights to life/security, food, water, health, and an adequate standard of
living. The second development was a warning of an impending environmental crisis
presented in Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, The Silent Spring. Subsequent analyses by
scientists revealed the crisis of excessive climate change arising from man-made green
house gas emissions. A specific human right related to this climate change crisis is the
right to a healthy environment. The third development was a wave of new and amended
constitutions in many of the world’s 192 countries. “In fact, 130 constitutions in the
world, including the overwhelming proportion of those amended or written since
1970, include a state obligation to protect the environment or the right to a safe, healthy
and ecologically sustainable environment (Brown and Brown 2015, pp. 170–171).”
2.2 Environmental Rights Provisions in Constitutions
Today, societal actors in many countries are engaged in the process of attempting to
transform today’s unsustainable societies into more healthy and sustainable ones.
This exercise includes the counterbalancing of property rights with the right to a
healthy, sustainable environment for individuals. In this comparative study of constitutions in 192 countries world wide, Boyd notes that “Constitutional environmental provisions have substantially increased the public’s role in environmental
governance (Boyd 2012, p. 239).”
Boyd raises two specific questions about environmental rights provisions in
constitutions:
• Do provisions of environmental rights in constitutions, and in particular, the right
to live in a healthy environment, matter?
• Do they have observable legal and extra legal effects that contribute to improved
environmental protection and reduce the risks to human health? Extra legal
effects include the evolution of public opinion, attitudes, values and behaviour
that may arise as a result of the existence of a constitutional rights provision.
Boyd argues that constitutions in democracies articulate values (or aims) that
govern political and social discourse for generations to come. These values are protected by incorporating them as rights of individuals and groups. Courts are empowered through the process of judicial review to be the guardian of these rights so as to
protect vulnerable groups against the tyranny of the majority (Boyd 2012, p. 5).
This conception of constitutions is similar to that of Aristotle as explained in the
following. The achievement of the objective of equality of justice requires that the
Protected Wilderness: Is It Still Possible?