The Human Right to a Green Future PDF Download

Author: Richard P. Hiskes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521873959
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
This book presents an argument for establishing environmental human rights as the legitimate possession of both present and future generations. It uses these rights - to clean air, water, and soil - to make an argument for justice across generations, that is, for recognizing the obligation that present generations have to preserve the environment and natural resources for future generations.

Author: Marcus Düwell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351631640
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
What are our obligations towards future generations who stand to be harmed by the impact of today’s environmental crises? This book explores ecological sustainability as a human rights issue and examines what our long-term responsibilities might be. This interdisciplinary collection of chapters provides a basis for understanding the debates on the provision of sustainability for future generations from a diverse set of theoretical standpoints. Covering a broad range of perspectives such as risk and uncertainty, legal implementation, representation, motivation and economics, Towards the Ethics of a Green Future sets out the key questions involved in this complex ethical issue. The contributors bring theoretical discussions to life through the use of case studies and real-world examples. The book also includes clear and tangible recommendations for policymakers on how to put the suggestions proposed within the book into practice. This book will be of great interest to all researchers and students concerned with issues of sustainability and human rights, as well as scholars of environmental politics, law and ethics more generally.

Author: Sumudu Atapattu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351757946
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
The field of human rights and the environment has grown phenomenally during the last few years and this textbook will be one of the first to encourage students to think critically about how many environmental issues lead to a violation of existing rights. Taking a socio-legal approach, this book will provide a good understanding of both human rights and environmental issues, as well as the limitations of each regime, and will explore the ways in which human rights law and institutions can be used to obtain relief for the victims of environmental degradation or of adverse effects of environmental policies. In addition, it will place an emphasis on climate change and climate policies to highlight the pros and cons of using a human rights framework and to underscore its importance in the context of climate change. As well as identifying emerging issues and areas for further research, each chapter will be rich in pedagogical features, including web links to further research and discussion questions for beyond the classroom. Combining their specialisms in law and politics, Atapattu and Schapper have developed a truly inter-disciplinary resource that will be essential for students of human rights, environmental studies, international law, international relations, politics, and philosophy.

Author: David R. Boyd
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774821639
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
The right to a healthy environment has been the subject of extensive philosophical debates that revolve around the question: Should rights to clean air, water, and soil be entrenched in law? David Boyd answers this by moving beyond theoretical debates to measure the practical effects of enshrining the right in constitutions. His pioneering analysis of 193 constitutions and the laws and court decisions of more than 100 nations in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa reveals a positive correlation between constitutional protection and stronger environmental laws, smaller ecological footprints, superior environmental performance, and improved quality of life.

Author: Alison Brysk
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509520619
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Human rights have fallen on hard times, yet they are more necessary than ever. People all over the world – from Amazonian villages to Iranian prisons – need human rights to gain recognition, campaign for justice, and save lives. But how can we secure a brighter future for human rights? What changes are required to confront the regime’s weaknesses and emerging global challenges? In this cutting-edge analysis, Alison Brysk sets out a pragmatic reformist agenda for human rights in the twenty-first century. Tracing problems and solutions through contemporary case studies – the plight of refugees, declining democracies such as Mexico and Turkey, the expansion of women’s rights, new norms for indigenous peoples, and rights regression in the USA – she shows that the dynamic strength of human rights lies in their evolving political practice. This distinctive vision demands that we build upon the gains of the human rights regime to construct new pathways which address historic rights gaps, from citizenship to security, from environmental protection to resurgent nationalism, and to globalization itself. Drawing on the author’s extensive experience as a leading human rights scholar and activist, The Future of Human Rights offers a broad and authoritative guide to the big questions in global human rights governance today.

Author: Bridget Lewis
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 981131960X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
This book examines the current status of environmental human rights at the international, regional, and national levels and provides a critical analysis of possible future developments in this area, particularly in the context of a changing climate. It examines various conceptualisations of environmental human rights, including procedural rights relating to the environment, constitutional environmental rights, the environmental dimensions of existing human rights such as the rights to water, health, food, housing and life, and the notion of a stand-alone human right to a healthy environment. The book addresses the topic from a variety of perspectives, drawing on underlying theories of human rights as well as a range of legal, political, and pragmatic considerations. It examines the scope of current human rights, particularly those enshrined in international and regional human rights law, to explore their application and enforceability in relation to environmental problems, identifying potential barriers to more effective implementation. It also analyses the rationale for constitutional recognition of environmental rights and considers the impact that this area of law has had, both in terms of achieving stronger environmental protection and environmental justice, as well as in influencing the development of human rights law more generally. The book identifies climate change as the key environmental challenge facing the global community, as well as a major cause of negative human rights impacts. It examines the contribution that environmental human rights might make to rights-based approaches to climate change.

Author: Dana Bourland
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 164283128X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
US cities are faced with the joint challenge of our climate crisis and the lack of housing that is affordable and healthy. Our housing stock contributes significantly to the changing climate, with residential buildings accounting for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. US housing is not only unhealthy for the planet, it is putting the physical and financial health of residents at risk. Our housing system means that a renter working 40 hours a week and earning minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment in any US county. In Gray to Green Communities, green affordable housing expert Dana Bourland argues that we need to move away from a gray housing model to a green model, which considers the health and well-being of residents, their communities, and the planet. She demonstrates that we do not have to choose between protecting our planet and providing housing affordable to all. Bourland draws from her experience leading the Green Communities Program at Enterprise Community Partners, a national community development intermediary. Her work resulted in the first standard for green affordable housing which was designed to deliver measurable health, economic, and environmental benefits. The book opens with the potential of green affordable housing, followed by the problems that it is helping to solve, challenges in the approach that need to be overcome, and recommendations for the future of green affordable housing. Gray to Green Communities brings together the stories of those who benefit from living in green affordable housing and examples of Green Communities’ developments from across the country. Bourland posits that over the next decade we can deliver on the human right to housing while reaching a level of carbon emissions reductions agreed upon by scientists and demanded by youth. Gray to Green Communities will empower and inspire anyone interested in the future of housing and our planet.

Author: Richard P. Hiskes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197565980
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
"This book begins with the recognition that continued practical denial of the human rights of children globally is due to the absence of any theoretical foundation justifying their reality. The goal of this book is to provide that foundation. Such a foundation departs from the eighteenth-century rationalist justification for human rights generally, and provides a new conceptualization for all human rights that embraces the facts of human vulnerability and capacity for promising as the real basis for rights. As such, children also qualify for full human rights, including those to a safe environment, to dignity, and to full participation as citizens, including voting rights. The theoretical foundation of children's human rights expands upon the "participation" rights included in the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Furthermore, full recognition of children's alters the composition and focus human rights to include the rights of future generations, group rights, and the pre-eminence of social and economic rights over civil and political rights"--

Author: Paula Gerber
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1781006067
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
This book offers the first scholarly analysis of the United Nations' work in the field of human rights education (HRE) and examines why HRE is so important. Paula Gerber argues that international law can learn from the medical profession, which has long recognised that 'prevention is better than cure'. There is an urgent need for HRE to be recognised as one of the best ways of preventing future human rights abuses; it is, in essence, a prophylactic for human rights violations. The book explores the provenance of human rights education in international law before critiquing the UNs work in this area across numerous different organs, including treaty committees, the Human Rights Council, General Assembly and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The author identifies a number of deficiencies in the UNs HRE activities, and makes recommendations for how the UN can more effectively promote HRE and increase states compliance with their international HRE obligations. This book provides a unique and timely insight into the workings of the UN in this vital aspect of international human rights law. Understanding Human Rights will strongly appeal to UN Bureaucrats, civil servants, human rights academics, human rights institutions and NGOs.

Author: Daniel C. Esty
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030024889X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world’s leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges such as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and air pollution. But in the United States, partisan divides, regional disputes, and deep disagreements over core principles have made it nearly impossible to chart a course toward a sustainable future. This timely new book, edited by celebrated scholar Daniel C. Esty, offers fresh thinking and forward-looking solutions from environmental thought leaders across the political spectrum. The book’s forty essays cover such subjects as ecology, environmental justice, Big Data, public health, and climate change, all with an emphasis on sustainability. The book focuses on moving toward sustainability through actionable, bipartisan approaches based on rigorous analytical research.