Mainstreaming Environmental Justice in Developing Countries: Thinking Beyond Constitutional Environmental Rights

Abstract

Human rights provisions, particularly constitutional environmental rights, are essential to promoting environmental justice. They provide the basis upon which citizens may challenge and thereby limit government’s potential to abuse its powers to deny the citizenry’s fundamental freedoms, which in the contemporary world we live in includes environmental rights. While an increasing number of national constitutions now recognize the importance of integrating environmental concerns, many do not adopt a rights-based approach. The paper argues that although constitutional recognition is important, there are other factors that may promote or limit environmental justice (particularly in developing countries) such as the reliance on resource revenues for national income, sociopolitical history, judicial activism, and ethnic considerations. These arguments are highlighted by the experiences drawn from four case study countries—Nigeria, South Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea. Although these countries share common political history, hence certain shared values, including respect for human rights, they recognize environmental rights at different levels, arguably as a result of the factors listed above. Adopting a comparative analysis of relevant constitutional provisions that form the basis for the recognition of environmental rights in these four countries, the paper highlights how these provisions contribute to the attainment of environmental (in)justice. While adopting the position and concluding that constitutional (environmental) human rights provisions are important to the promotion and attainment of environmental justice in developing countries, the paper posits that it is essential to draw specific attention to other issues that influence the dynamics of environmental justice in such countries.

Rhuks Ako PhD, Senior Fellow (Natural Resources, Energy and Environment) at the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute), Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.

An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Third United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) – Yale Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy.