Varvastian, Samvel

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This is a n  Op e n  Acces s  doc u m e n t  dow nloa d e d  fro m  ORCA, Ca r diff U nive r si ty 'sins ti t u tion al r e posi to ry: h t t p s://o rc a.c a r diff.ac.uk/142 1 9 1/This  is t h e  a u t ho r’s ve r sion  of a  wo rk  t h a t  w as  s u b mi t t e d  to  / a c c e p t e d  forp u blica tion.Cit a tion  for  final p u blish e d  ve r sion:Varvas ti an,  S a mvel 2 0 2 0.  E nvi ron m e n t al r igh t s:  t h e  d evelop m e n t  of s t a n d a r d s ,e d s  S t e p h e n  J. Tur n er, Dina h  L. S h el ton,  Jona  R azza q u e,  Ow e n  McIn ty r e  a n dJam e s  R. M ay [Book Review]. E u ro p e a n  E n e r gy a n d  Environ m e n t al  LawReview 2 9  (6) , p p .  2 4 5-2 4 6.  file  P u blish e r s  p a g e:  h t t p s://kluw e rl awonline.co m/Jou r n alAr ticle/Eu ro p e a ...< h t t p s ://kluw e rl a wo nline.co m/Jou r n alAr ticle/Eu ro p e a n + E n e r gy + a n d + E nvironm e n t al +L a w + R evie w/29.6/EELR202 0 0 4 9 >Ple a s e  no t e:  Ch a n g e s  m a d e  a s  a  r e s ul t  of p u blishing  p roc e s s e s  s uc h  a s  copy-e di ting,for m a t ting  a n d  p a g e  n u m b e r s  m ay no t  b e  r eflec t e d  in t his  ve r sion.  For  t h ed efini tive  ve r sion  of t his  p u blica tion,  ple a s e  r ef e r  to  t h e  p u blish e d  sou rc e.  Youa r e  a dvise d  to  cons ul t  t h e  p u blish e r’s ve r sion  if you  wish  to  ci t e  t his  p a p er.This ve r sion  is b ein g  m a d e  av ailable  in  a cco r d a n c e  wit h  p u blish e r  policie s.S e e  h t t p://o rc a .cf.ac.uk/policies.h t ml for  u s a g e  policies.  Copyrigh t  a n d  m o r al  r i gh t sfor  p u blica tions  m a d e  available  in ORCA a r e  r e t ain e d  by t h e  copyrig h thold e r s .Book ReviewEnvironmental Rights: The Development of Standards,Stephen J. Turner, Dinah L. Shelton, Jona Razzaque,Owen McIntyre & James R. May eds, 1st ed. UK:Cambridge University Press. May 2019. 407 pp.ISBN 978-1-108-48224-0.The growing scholarly interest in the intersectionbetween human rights and environmental issues, cata-lyzed by the exacerbating threats posed by climatechange, air pollution, contamination of oceans with plas-tics, and other persisting environmental problems,1 hasled to publication of a number of volumes on this topicover the last decade.2 Environmental Rights: The Devel-opment of Standards adds a highly important and inter-esting discussion to this growing body of scholarship,with a collection of contributions from some of theworld’s most renowned experts, exploring different legaltools that have shaped environmental rights, includingdevelopments in statutory law and doctrinal interpretationby national and regional courts as well as regional andinternational treaty bodies. Importantly, the book extendsthe existing discussion by focusing on how the above-mentioned developments are setting and clarifying envir-onmental standards through rights-based approaches.The book covers a wide range of issues that canthematically be divided into four categories: (1) devel-opment of standards at transnational level, includinginternational human rights law (Chapter 2 by SumuduAtapattu) and regional developments in Europe (Chapter3 by Karen Morrow), the Americas (Chapter 4 byEvadné Grant) and Africa (Chapter 5 by Louis J. Kotzéand Anél du Plessis) (2) jurisdiction-specific nationaldevelopments in India (Chapter 10 by Gitanjali N.Gill), Portugal (Chapter 11 by Alexandra Aragaõ),Argentina (Chapter 12 by Silvia Nonna), South Africa(Chapter 13 by Nathan J. Cooper), France (Chapter 14by David Marrani and Stephen J. Turner) and Bhutan(Chapter 15 by Stephen J. Turner) as well as subnationaldevelopments in the US and Brazil (Chapter 17 by JamesR. May and Erin Daly); (3) developments in proceduralenvironmental rights under the Aarhus Conventionregime (Chapter 6 by Áine Ryall) and other multilateralenvironmental agreements (Chapter 8 by Lara Ognibeneand Angela Kariuki), including standards on free priorand informed consent (Chapter 9 by Jona Razzaque); (4)sectoral and cross-sectoral developments concerning theright of access to water (Chapter 7 by Owen McIntyre)and the rights of nature (Chapter 16 by Craig M. Kauff-man and Linda Sheehan). The breadth and depth of thechapters covered in this work shows us that this parti-cular field of enquiry is certainly growing and thatenvironmental rights arguments and discourses arebeing taken seriously at every level.The book reveals three principal trends with regard tothe development of standards in environmental rights’protection. First, the absence of specific environmentalrights in statutory law does not preclude some courts andtreaty bodies from extending the application of other,tangential rights to cover this gap – the process knownas the ‘greening’ of rights.3 This ‘greening’ process canbe observed at every level: for example, in the petitionsand communications4 by the UN Human Rights Commit-tee and the Committee on Economic, Social and CulturalRights, that have been developing jurisprudence relatingto the environment through the articulation of the rights ofindigenous peoples, etc. (pages 22–36); the interpretationof the right to respect for private life and other non-explicitly environmental rights in the European Conven-tion on Human Rights by the European Court of HumanRights to cover issues related to environmental degrada-tion (pages 42–45); and the ‘greening’ of national consti-tutions, for example, the constitution of India, by courts,including the National Green Tribunal (223–227), as wellas other examples identified throughout the book.Second, the book clearly shows that the universalapproach to environmental rights is still highly fragmen-ted. A prominent example of this is the right to healthyenvironment, which, despite its near-global recognition atthe national level,5 is not universally recognized at theregional and international levels. A possible explanationto this paradox is the absence of a universally agreedstandard as to what constitutes (or ought to) a ‘healthy’environment.6 The difference between national1 See e.g. Report of the Special Rapporteur David Boyd on theissue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of asafe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, No. A/74/161(2019).2 See e.g. Research Handbook on Human Rights and the Environ-ment (Anna Grear & Louis J. Kotzé eds, Edward Elgar Publishing2015); The Human Right to a Healthy Environment (John H. Knox& Ramin Pejan eds, Cambridge University Press 2018); SumuduAtapattu & Andrea Schapper, Human Rights and the Environ-ment: Key Issues (Routledge 2019); Human Rights and the Envir-onment: Legality, Indivisibility, Dignity and Geography (James R.May & Erin Daly eds, Edward Elgar Publishing 2019).3 See Foreword by John Knox.4 See e.g. Lubicon Lake Band v. Canada, Communication No.167/14 (26 Mar. 1990) UN Doc Supp No 40 (N45/40) at 1(1990); Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights,Concluding Observations on the Fifth Period Report of Austra-lia (23 June 2017) UN Doc E/C.12/AUS/CO/5.5 For a detailed discussion see David R. Boyd Constitutions,Human Rights, and the Environment: National Approaches, inResearch Handbook on Human Rights and the Environment170–199 (Anna Grear & Louis J. Kotzé eds, Edward ElgarPublishing 2015).6 For a detailed discussion on this see The Human Right to aHealthy Environment, supra n. 2. See also Report of the SpecialRapporteur John Knox on the issue of human rights obligationsrelating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustain-able environment: Framework Principles on Human Rights andthe Environment, No. A/HRC/37/59 (2018).European Energy and Environmental Law Review December 2020 245Book Reviewconstitutions is another obvious example: while somenational constitutions, such as those of Portugal andSouth Africa, explicitly recognize and protect environ-mental rights, including ‘the right to a healthy and ecolo-gically balanced human living environment’, the right ‘tohave the environment protected for the benefit of presentand future generations’, etc. (pages 248–249 and 289–291), other constitutions (for example, the constitutionof India and the US constitution) do not explicitly containsuch rights, although as already mentioned above, thisdoes not in itself pose critical obstacle to the protectionof human interests from environmental degradation, sincewe can arguably use other human rights to obtain someform of environmental-related concession. However,when it comes to procedural rights, these differences instatutory law can indeed determine the level of protection.This is most apparent in cases of different standards onaccess to justice – the availability of public interest litiga-tion, standing rules, etc., which are arguably particularlycrucial when it comes to the protection of not onlyhumans, but the environment itself, or, in other words,the rights of nature (pages 123–125, 344), who is relianton her human guardians as defender of her rights.Third, the book suggests that the general trajectorytowards greater recognition of environmentalrights – whether written, or unwritten – shows robust poten-tial for mainstreaming environmental protection in thehuman rights agenda. Once again, this process is observedat the international (page 39) and regional levels (pages 82–91), including some major developments in the UN HumanRights Committee’s and the Inter-American Court ofHuman Rights’ jurisprudence shortly after the publicationof this book,7 as well as the continuing development ofhigher standards at the national and subnational levels(pages 376–381), including in such a sensitive area as therights of nature (pages 342–347). That said, there is stillmore than ample space for subsequent development, giventhe numerous, persisting as well as emerging challenges thatenvironmental and human rights protection system mustaccommodate (pages 399–400).Overall, I highly recommend this book; it provides anessential reading for academics, legal practitioners andresearchers, and students alike, working on or studyingthe fascinating field of intersection between the environ-ment and human rights.Samvel VarvastianPhD researcher, Cardiff University.Email: varvastians@cardiff.ac.uk.7 Norma Portillo Cáceres and others v. Paraguay, viewsadopted by the UN Human Rights Committee under Art. 5 (4)of the Optional Protocol, concerning communication No. 2751/2016 (20 Sept. 2019); Inter-American Court of Human Rights,Caso Comunidades Indígenas Miembros de la AsociaciónLhaka Honhat (Nuestra Tierra) v. Argentina (6 Feb. 2020).246 European Energy and Environmental Law Review December 2020Book Review

Environmental rights: the development of standards, eds Stephen J. Turner, Dinah L. Shelton, Jona Razzaque, Owen McIntyre and James R. May [Book Review]

https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/142191/1/EELR_29_0604.pdf

Environmental rights: the development of standards, eds Stephen J. Turner, Dinah L. Shelton, Jona Razzaque, Owen McIntyre and James R. May [Book Review]

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