By David Gallup
Why should we think beyond our humanness to a worldly, earth
perspective? Does the earth have a right to exist independently from humans? Do
animals, plants and even inanimate objects have rights? How should humans
interact with the earth and ecosystem, not as “owners” of the earth, but as
caretakers of the planet?
As we celebrate the 69th
Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 2017,
let us take a moment to appreciate the bounty that the earth provides for
humanity. It is a time to reflect, not only upon human rights, but also upon
the rights of the earth itself. It is time to reflect upon how our human rights
are dependent upon environmental rights. And it is time to reflect upon
humanity’s duty to protect the earth.
Global warming, ozone depletion, rising sea levels, soil erosion,
habitat destruction, species extinction, drug, pesticide, plastic and petroleum
toxins in groundwater, pollutants in the air, landfills and oceans,
deforestation, etc. These human created problems impact all life on the planet
and pose a threat to all beings’ existence. We must consider how our human
actions are violating that most fundamental right – the right to exist.
Although the focus of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) pertains
specifically to human rights, several Articles in the Declaration can be
construed to provide a basic legal framework for considering environmental
rights and duties as part of our human rights and duties.
The Human Focus of the UDHR
In 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was
proclaimed, humans were not fully aware of how our use of the earth and its
resources could negatively impact the world. The link between human rights and
environmental rights was not yet established. The UDHR focuses specifically on
human rights, and only indirectly on environmental rights, for several reasons:
- The
UDHR was created immediately after World War II when the rights of
millions of people were violently, and for many lethally, violated. The
UDHR was a reaction to the war, to develop laws of peace as an adjunct to
the laws of war, with the expectation that once human rights are fully
respected, humans would be less inclined to behave aggressively toward one
another.
- The
framers of the UDHR wanted to focus on human interactions – how we treat
each other – in order to build a peaceful world.
- The
conceptualization of other third or fourth generation rights (such as
environmental rights) had not yet come into mainstream thought. The earth
had for so long been looked upon as human property to exploit solely for
human advancement.
- The scientific studies that reveal how treatment of the environment can impact our ability to claim and exercise our rights had not yet been conducted.
Even though the framers of the UDHR do not directly mention
environmental rights, these rights can be deduced from Declaration.
The UDHR and Environmental Rights
We can extrapolate rights related to the earth from five articles
of the UDHR: Articles 3, 25, 28, 29 and 30.
Article 3 of the UDHR affirms the rights to
live, to freedom and to security: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty
and security of the person.” We now know that if the earth dies, we humans
die with it. To affirm our life, liberty and security, we have the duty to act
towards nature sustainably and indigenously.
Article 25(1) of the UDHR affirms the rights to
health and to fulfill basic needs: “Everyone has the right to a standard of
living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family,
including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social
services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances
beyond his control.” To
advance the standard of living for humanity, we must respect the web of life
that supports our health and well-being. To have abundant food and to fulfill
our basic needs, we must nourish the land and maintain clean air and water.
While considering standards of living, we must also be mindful of how the
priority of continuous economic growth, and its concomitant resource usage,
negatively impacts the environment. The earth is facing greater and greater strain from human
activities that exacerbate natural phenomenon such as hurricanes, wildfires,
and seismic activity. When we are not mindful and respectful of nature’s
infrastructure, nature will wreak havoc on our human infrastructure.
Article 28 of the UDHR affirms the goal of
living in a world of order rather than entropy: “Everyone is entitled to a
social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in
this Declaration can be fully realized.” What does a social and international order look like, that allows
us to fully realize our rights? That order will come from a holistic world
system that equally values both human and environmental rights. That order will
come from advocating for the earth. We humans must speak up for the earth,
using our “reason and conscience” (as Article 1 states) to voice and implement
what the earth needs in order to heal and flourish. That order will come from the
awareness of both our rights and duties as world citizens to each other and to
the earth.
Article 29 of the UDHR affirms that we humans
have duties to each other and the world around us: “(1) Everyone has
duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his
personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be
subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the
purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of
others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the
general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in
no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United
Nations.” We must
expand the notion of duty to the community to mean duty to the earth as a
whole, rather than only to the human community. We must secure the recognition
of rights of others with the consideration that “others” includes the
environment. We must exercise our rights only to the extent that this exercise
does not damage the earth.
Article 30 of the UDHR affirms that humans
cannot engage in any activity or perform any act that destroys our rights: “Nothing
in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or
person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the
destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.” In this final Article of the
Declaration, we find our ultimate human duty to the planet. Destruction of the
environment eventually destroys our rights. More than any other human
activity, war violates human rights and despoils the environment. Our human
rights, and ultimately world peace, are dependent upon healthy, sustainable
natural and human environments.
Moving Beyond the UDHR
As our understanding of humanity’s link to the earth has evolved,
activists and lawmakers have established environmental laws in an attempt to
regulate human interaction with the environment. More than 80 declarations,
treaties and multilateral conventions have been ratified over the past 75 years
in an effort to protect various aspects of the environment. Several of the most
well-known, though not yet well-implemented, include the 1972 Stockholm
Declaration on the right to a healthy environment, the 1992 Rio Declaration on
the protection of the integrity of the earth’s ecosystem, the 1992 United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce greenhouse gases, the
subsequent 1997 Kyoto Protocol and 2015 Paris Agreement, and the 1998 Aarhus
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making
and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. In 2015, 193 countries adopted
17 Sustainable Development Goals, of which 8 directly pertain to the
environment. National governments have given themselves until 2030 to try to
achieve these goals.
As environmental activists have seen nation-state treaties come
and go with big fanfare but little positive change, other attempts to declare
the rights of the environment have come to the fore. In 2010, at the “World
Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth,” a Universal
Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth proclaimed the rights of the earth
and all beings and the duties of humans to the earth. Hundreds of thousands of
individuals have signed a petition in support of this rights of nature
declaration. Activists plan to present more than a million signatures of
support to the United Nations on the 70th
anniversary of the UDHR next year with the expectation that the UN will adopt
the Declaration. As with many declarations and treaties, relying upon the UN or
individual nations to enforce their provisions has had limited success.
Despite the plethora of laws and scientific guidelines for humans
to follow to be good stewards of the earth, national governments and
corporations have blocked progress toward an ecologically sustainable world. It
is not necessarily a question of making new laws, which national and corporate
leaders will likely ignore; rather, it is a question of enforcing the laws
already on the books, engaging the public in protecting the environment, and
summoning a united political will. We need to work with one human voice to
govern how we treat the earth and all its inhabitants.
Universal Human Rights Require Universal Environmental Rights
Human
rights, peace, and environmental activists must work together to achieve
universal awareness and respect for all rights. In the future, we may adopt a
Universal Declaration of Universal Rights and Duties, a
compendium encompassing all human, environmental and other rights and responsibilities.
For now, though, uniting as world citizens to implement universal human rights
side by side with universal environmental rights is the key to survival of
humanity and the earth.
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