The Importance of the Human Right to a Clean Environment and the Role of International Cooperation in Climate Action

Abstract

The right to a healthy and clean environment is one of the fundamental human rights guaranteed by international instruments and the majority of national constitutions, particularly since a healthy environment is of objective importance to human beings in light of technological development, which has been accompanied by environmental pollution that has affected and continues to affect human beings in terms of health, social, and economic aspects.

Although the right to a healthy, clean, suitable, and pollution-free environment is an individual human right as, according to modern trends, individuals have acquired a personal interest in claiming it it is also considered a collective right, as states and groups may claim and uphold it. It is also considered a universal right stipulated in the majority of instruments relating to the protection and promotion of human rights.

Furthermore, the human right to live in a suitable and healthy environment is considered both a right and a duty at the same time, because whoever has the right to a healthy environment has, in return, the duty to protect it and prevent it from all types of pollutants.