Over 100 civil society organisations have written an open letter urging Scotland’s First Minister not to renege on the government’s longstanding commitment to recognise the human right to a healthy environment in a Scottish Human Rights Bill, due to be introduced next year.
Recognising the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was a key recommendation of the Scottish Government’s National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership (2021) and was included in the Government’s 2023 consultation on a Human Rights Bill for Scotland, when the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote that ‘recognising and including the right to a healthy environment within the limits of devolved competence is a necessary and important step for Scotland now to take.’
166 out of 193 UN Member States now legally recognise the right, which the UN sees as a critical tool for holding public bodies and polluters to account. However, despite consistent support from a broad range of civil society organisations, the Scottish Government has since raised concerns about the strength, scope and coverage of duty attached to the right and there are fears that it is preparing to exclude environmental human rights from the Bill.
The letter reminds the Scottish Government that the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) is unequivocal in General Comment no. 27, in affirming how the right to a healthy environment is an essential precondition to the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.
Faced with the triple planetary crisis of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste, the letter highlights how incorporation of the right into Scots law would contribute to a cross-cutting human rights framework. It could shift how budgetary and strategic decisions are made to tackle the systemic cause of food and energy insecurity and health inequalities, as well as meeting Scotland’s legal biodiversity and net zero targets.
The letter has been signed by a broad coalition of environmental, human rights, health, faith, trade union and community organisations, which collectively represent thousands of supporters. Signatories include Human Rights Consortium Scotland, the Poverty Alliance, Together: The Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights, Inclusion Scotland, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and Scottish Environment LINK. It has also been endorsed by former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, Professor David R. Boyd.
Shivali Fifield, Chief Officer at the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, said:
‘In the past few years we have seen Scotland experiencing extreme severe heat, wildfires, floods and storms – this will only get worse with children, older people, disabled people and people with health conditions most at risk yet often with the least resources to recover.
Everyone deserves their human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment – access to affordable healthy food, nature-rich green space and sewage-free water should not be a privilege. There can be no backtracking on a robust Scottish Human Rights Bill. Only with an intersectional human rights legal framework can we shift the system to work for social, environmental and climate justice for all.’
David Reilly, Communities and Networks Manager at the Poverty Alliance, said:
‘The first injustices suffered by children in poverty are environmental harms, like higher exposure to air pollution and environmental hazards. That is a matter of justice and equality, not bad luck, and recognising the right to a healthy environment in the Human Rights Bill would finally give these children the legal protection they deserve and would create a framework for decision making in our public bodies that protects their future. The First Minister must keep faith with that commitment – rights that exist only on paper are no rights at all.’
Lisa Hough-Stewart, Director at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland, said:
“Right now, our economy does not recognise that it requires a healthy climate and natural environment to function. A Wellbeing Economy puts nature at its heart, because people can only thrive on a living, healthy planet. The right to a healthy environment is not a brake on a good economy; it is the foundation of one. Enshrining this right would help build strong local economies that work with nature rather than exploit it, and would make sure decisions about budgets and strategy put the wellbeing of people and planet first.”
Amanda Grimm, Advocacy Lead at Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said:
“It would be ludicrous not to include the right to a healthy environment in the Human Rights Bill, since a healthy environment – including a safe climate – is essential for our society and economy to function. Backtracking on including this right would send a signal that the Scottish Government is giving up on tackling the climate emergency, which is one of its stated four priorities for Scotland. If the Scottish Government is serious about that aim, they should have no problem with making decisions in line with this right, and they must include the right to a healthy environment and safe climate – within the limits of devolved competence – in this crucial Bill.”
Prof. Jill Belch, Chair of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh’s Advisory Forum on the Environment, said:
‘We consider that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a core human right and one that is also fundamental to good health. From the air we breathe to the quality of our water, our environment has a significant impact on physical and mental health and wellbeing. Protecting the right to a healthy environment must be considered an important element in preventing ill health, reducing health inequalities and easing some of the avoidable pressures on the NHS. We strongly urge the Scottish Government to honour its previous commitment to recognising this right in the Human Rights Bill for Scotland.’
ENDS
For more information contact
Benjamin Brown, Policy & Advocacy Officer
Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland
bbrown@ercs.scot, 07856 407479
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] The open letter to the First Minister is available here. For more information on the right to a healthy environment, see ERCS’s explainer briefing.
[2] The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) is an environmental law charity. We carry out advocacy in policy and law reform to improve environmental rights and compliance with the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice on environmental matters.
[3] The Poverty Alliance is Scotland’s leading anti-poverty network. Founded in 1993, it brings together communities, grassroots groups, trade unions, charities, and people with direct experience of poverty to influence policy, conduct research, and campaign for social and economic justice.
[4] Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland brings people and organisations together to build an economy that delivers good lives for all within planetary boundaries.
[5] Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is a coalition of over 70 civil society organisations working together to secure fast and fair policies to tackle climate change and its impacts.
[6] The College Advisory Forum on the Environment (CAFE) is a dedicated committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) focused on climate change, sustainability, and air pollution.
[7] The Scottish Government previously announced its intention to recognise the right to a healthy environment as part of a new Human Rights Bill following the publication of recommendations in the National Taskforce for Human Rights: leadership report. In her Ministerial forward to the public consultation on a Human Rights Bill for Scotland, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville said that ‘recognising and including the right to a healthy environment within the limits of devolved competence is a necessary and important step for Scotland now to take’ and that ‘recognising the right to a healthy environment sends an important signal of solidarity to the global community in support of the international rule of law.’ The 2023 consultation document is available here.
[8] the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership Report (2021) recommended the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment should be included with substantive and procedural elements.
Substantive environmental rights would have standalone protection for the first time and include: clean air; a safe climate; healthy and sustainably produced food; safe and sufficient water; non-toxic environments in which to live, work, study, and play; and healthy biodiversity and ecosystems. See ERCS/Scottish Environment LINK’s joint report on the substantive right to a healthy environment.
Procedural environmental rights are already protected in Scotland under the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), but Scotland remains non-compliant with the Convention’s access to justice requirements. See ERCS’s briefing on Scotland’s progress on delivering access to justice.
