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government to deal with climate change, but also elevated the concept of climate
change to one of international law. Moreover, it could open doors for one country to
sue another where one country is causing harm to another country by not abating its
emissions. Tunisia is the third country to include climate change in its constitution.
Ecuador and Dominican Republic are others. Tunisia’s parliament has also created
a commission for sustainable development and for rights of future generations
which reflects a concern about the impact of global warming.
A March 2013 World Bank Report said that climate change is already damaging
people’s livelihoods and well-being in Tunisia and, without action, it will deepen
the already significant poverty and unemployment leading to food insecurity and
political instability. As well, climate change is already impacting on people’s livelihoods and well-being in Libya and Egypt and has played a role in the Arab Spring.
Another implication of the changes found in Tunisia’s constitution regarding climate change is that it could empower climate change refugees. Having climate
change provisions in a constitution could be a relevant argument for those refugees
seeking protection (Aulakh 2014).
If Canada’s legislators introduced climate change provisions in Canada’s constitution today, any of its current policies or legislation or violations that are inconsistent with the constitution could be taken to court and possibly struck down.
3 Pessimism About Constitutional Rights as Protections
Constitutional rights are not fool proof solutions for today’s environmental problems. Two examples of failure are found in Brazil and the European Union.
3.1 Brazil’s Bel Monte Dam Controversy
The Kapayo are an indigenous group in the Amazon area in Brazil. They have fought,
and continue to fight, many battles with the climatic enemy. Brazil’s twenty- five year
old constitution includes sections which protect the lands and rights of the Kapayo
territory—an area of rainforest covering twice the area of Nova Scotia—from loggers, miners, ranchers and dam builders. The Kapayo territory, the largest tropical
reserve in the world, includes 9000 people in 34 villages spread across 11 million
hectares. Although the Kapayo are considered indigenous role models for their successful defence of land and culture from modern encroachment, powerful new developments threaten to change life as they know it. A massive dam development on the
Xingu River, a body of water that forms the centre of their existence and a proposal
to change sections of Brazil’s constitution is the climactic enemy (Brown 2014).
In 2005, the Brazilian Congress voted to revive the dam on the grounds that its
energy was essential to the security of the rapidly growing nation. Claiming that the
project’s environmental impact statements were defective and that the region’s
indigenous people were not adequately consulted, Brazil’s federal Public
Protected Wilderness: Is It Still Possible?
government to deal with climate change, but also elevated the concept of climate
change to one of international law. Moreover, it could open doors for one country to
sue another where one country is causing harm to another country by not abating its
emissions. Tunisia is the third country to include climate change in its constitution.
Ecuador and Dominican Republic are others. Tunisia’s parliament has also created
a commission for sustainable development and for rights of future generations
which reflects a concern about the impact of global warming.
A March 2013 World Bank Report said that climate change is already damaging
people’s livelihoods and well-being in Tunisia and, without action, it will deepen
the already significant poverty and unemployment leading to food insecurity and
political instability. As well, climate change is already impacting on people’s livelihoods and well-being in Libya and Egypt and has played a role in the Arab Spring.
Another implication of the changes found in Tunisia’s constitution regarding climate change is that it could empower climate change refugees. Having climate
change provisions in a constitution could be a relevant argument for those refugees
seeking protection (Aulakh 2014).
If Canada’s legislators introduced climate change provisions in Canada’s constitution today, any of its current policies or legislation or violations that are inconsistent with the constitution could be taken to court and possibly struck down.
3 Pessimism About Constitutional Rights as Protections
Constitutional rights are not fool proof solutions for today’s environmental problems. Two examples of failure are found in Brazil and the European Union.
3.1 Brazil’s Bel Monte Dam Controversy
The Kapayo are an indigenous group in the Amazon area in Brazil. They have fought,
and continue to fight, many battles with the climatic enemy. Brazil’s twenty- five year
old constitution includes sections which protect the lands and rights of the Kapayo
territory—an area of rainforest covering twice the area of Nova Scotia—from loggers, miners, ranchers and dam builders. The Kapayo territory, the largest tropical
reserve in the world, includes 9000 people in 34 villages spread across 11 million
hectares. Although the Kapayo are considered indigenous role models for their successful defence of land and culture from modern encroachment, powerful new developments threaten to change life as they know it. A massive dam development on the
Xingu River, a body of water that forms the centre of their existence and a proposal
to change sections of Brazil’s constitution is the climactic enemy (Brown 2014).
In 2005, the Brazilian Congress voted to revive the dam on the grounds that its
energy was essential to the security of the rapidly growing nation. Claiming that the
project’s environmental impact statements were defective and that the region’s
indigenous people were not adequately consulted, Brazil’s federal Public
Protected Wilderness: Is It Still Possible?