The right to a healthy environment. Current aspects

Mariana-Narcisa Radu

Mihnea-Dan Radu

The protection of the environment and, implicitly, the right to a healthy environment are topical issues, since it is obvious that worldwide economic and social developments must be linked to the consequences of human activity on the natural environment. Climate change, human intervention or lack thereof, are transforming the planet, exacerbating existing problems and affecting fundamental human rights, such as the right to life and the right to privacy and family life. The right to a healthy environment is enshrined among fundamental human rights, with the European Court of Human Rights playing an important role in adding it to the rights covered by Articles 2 and 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It is thus recognised that the fulfillment of fundamental rights cannot be conceived without the existence of a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, imposing a positive obligation on States to take reasonable and appropriate measures in order to protect people’s right to respect for private and family life, to enjoy their right to life and, in more general terms, to benefit from a healthy and protected environment. Although it is recognised in international documents that all of the planet’s inhabitants have the right to a healthy and clean environment, many of the measures necessary in order to achieve this goal need to also be firmly taken up by national authorities. Domestic regulations recognise the need to ensure the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment for everyone, without discrimination, but recent studies show that there are a number of vulnerable groups who are deprived of this right.

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