Sunday 5 June is World Environment Day – to remind us that there are billions of planets in our galaxy but there is #OnlyOneEarth. Let’s take care of it …
Earth faces a triple planetary emergency:
- the climate is heating too quickly for people and nature to adapt
- habitat loss and other pressures are causing accelerated species extinction
- pollution continues to poison our air, land and water.
We all deserve to live in a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. But this is not protected as a human right in Scotland. That’s why the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland has launched a petition for an enforceable human right to a healthy environment in Scots law. The petition will stay open throughout 2022 and will be used to show the Scottish Government the strength of support. Please take a moment to sign and share it.
Scotland must urgently tackle its own environmental problems including air, land and water pollution, flooding due to climate change and a biodiversity crisis. These problems are part of the global climate and nature emergencies.
People living in areas of highest disadvantage are the worst affected by environmental problems and also have the least access to healthy, biodiverse green spaces. Children, older people, disabled people and people with health conditions are hardest hit.
We should be able to hold public bodies and polluters to account. But in Scotland it is incredibly difficult to use our legal system to stand up for the environment and our health. It is complicated, expensive and intimidating.
In a welcome move, the Scottish Government has promised to include the human right to a healthy environment in the new Human Rights (Scotland) Bill. The Bill will be consulted on this summer.
The task now is to ensure that the right to a healthy environment remains a top priority and is enforceable so that public bodies and polluters respect it and we can take them to court if they do not. This is what the petition is about.
It calls for the right to a healthy environment to guarantee the highest standards for clean air; a safe climate; access to safe water and adequate sanitation; healthy and sustainably produced food; non-toxic environments in which to live, work, study and play; and healthy biodiversity and ecosystems. These are the six features identified by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment and endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, who passed a landmark resolution last October recognising, for the first time, that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right.
The petition also calls for reforming legal expenses so that it is affordable for all of us to uphold environmental laws in court. Having affordable access to the courts is already required by the international treaty called the Aarhus Convention. But Scotland’s legal system is in breach of the Convention. This is because the costs of taking legal action to protect the environment in Scotland are unaffordable. They can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, which prevents individuals, groups and organisations from pursuing action.
Finally, the petition calls for the creation of a specialist environmental court which is affordable and accessible for everyone, fair, timely and effective. The support for environmental courts has grown rapidly with nearly 1500 environmental courts worldwide. The hearing of environmental cases in one place would allow judges to develop experience in interpreting environmental law, supported by technical experts.
At a time when we are exceeding our planetary limits, the need for an enforceable human right to a healthy environment, and a court system which enables all of us to stand up for and protect the environment, is more pressing than ever.
Please show your support for stronger environmental rights in Scotland. We have only one earth – let’s take care of it.
- Sign and share the petition
- To find out more about the reforms that are needed read our Advocacy Manifesto or one-page Summary of Recommendations
- To stay in touch with our work sign up to our mailing list or join as a member.
Header image – “World Environment Day” by UNEP
