Today we submitted to the Scottish Government the final copy of our petition calling for an enforceable right to a healthy environment.
The hand-in was timed to coincide with Human Rights Day, and the final list of signatories has now been passed to Màiri McAllan MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition.
ERCS launched the petition in advance of consultations on the Human Rights Bill and Review of Environmental Governance, and it has now been signed by more than 1,500 individuals and sixty-six organisations including environmental groups, charities, thinktanks, and trade unions – collectively representing thousands of members.
We were joined by Jo and Doreen, tireless campaigners from our environmental justice network, whose own experiences struggling against the scourge of sewage sludge exemplifies just why we need our environmental rights to have teeth and be fully enforceable.
Everyone in Scotland deserves to live in a healthy environment. Yet our current system does not enable us to effectively hold public bodies and polluters to account – whether that’s on tackling the climate and nature crises, or addressing the widespread pollution of our air, land, and water.
We hope today can mark a turning point in how the Scottish Government responds to Scotland’s growing litany of environmental problems. To deliver lasting and meaningful change, we need the right to a healthy environment recognised in law, alongside making legal expenses affordable and establishing of a dedicated Scottish Environment Court.
Find out more in our Human Rights Day blog: https://www.ercs.scot/blog/this-human-rights-day-scotland-must-realise-the-promise-of-the-right-to-a-healthy-environment/
