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Recognising the right to a healthy environment

  • Area of Work: Policy and Research
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 17th July 2024
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We are calling for the Scottish Government to give legal protections to our right to a healthy environment as part of a Human Rights Bill.

The ALLIANCE have joined a broad coalition of over sixty environmental, human rights and health groups in signing a joint letter urging Scottish Government Ministers to recognise the human right to a healthy environment as part of the new Human Rights (Scotland) Bill.

Former UN Special Rapporteur Prof. David Boyd has said that incorporating the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is ‘of paramount importance for children and youth’ in Scotland, as their futures depend on accelerated climate and environmental progress.

We need an enforceable right to a healthy environment to hold public bodies and polluters to account and keep people protected from environmental harm. Too often, communities sounding the alarm over environmental abuse are overlooked or ignored, without a clear route to remedy when rights violations occur. Recognising environmental rights can help address this power imbalance.

There is overwhelming support for incorporating an enforceable right to a healthy environment, from both civil society and the public at large. Sixty-six organisations previously signed a petition backing the move, while independent analysis of over 400 responses to the Scottish Government’s Human Rights Bill consultation also demonstrate strong support.

You can read the letter in full here.

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