Law Review International Journal of Law and Jurisprudence Open Source Online Publication Edited by the Union of Jurists of Romania and Universul Juridic Publishing House e-ISSN 2246-9435
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Right to a proper climate in the system of the right to an environment and the equation of fundamental human rights

Dutu Mircea

The affirmation of the process of climate change and their irreversible consequences generates dangers and major negative outcomes to the exercise of the fundamental human rights. Human civilization is tightly linked to climate stability, conclusion confirmed by the reality that the last 10.000-12.000, relatively balanced from a climate point of view, have favored its development. At the same time, the perspective of global warming leading to a change in the climate system and the passage to a new stage creates the menace of the extinction of man, as species among species. Such a fact generates the need to self-limitation of human action (mainly the emission of greenhouse gas) and human self-defense, by the recognition of a new fundamental human right: the right to a proper
climate, having two components: the right to climate stability, and the right to reasonable adaptation to climate changes. It belongs to the system of the right to environment (next to the right to water, to clean air etc.) and, being based on the principle of precaution; it affirms itself autonomously and innovatively in the equation of the institution of human rights. The existing legal premises (mainly the Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 and the documents adopted in its enforcement) need to be developed, including the recognition and adaptation of such a right. The long awaited Paris Agreement, scheduled for December 2015, can play a major role in this regard.

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