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Journal of Environmental Law and Policy is an international, interdisciplinary journal that facilitates an understanding of environmental governance, policy and law issues not only by drawing upon and contributing to the environmental social sciences, but also linking the ecosystem health, natural resources, and social sciences. The aim of the journal is to promote communication among academia, government, business and industry, civil society groups, citizens’ action groups, and non-governmental organizations who are instrumental in the solving of environmental problems and grassroots level issues.
Brown Etareri Umukoro*
Faculty of Law, Delta State University, Oleh Campus, Nigeria.
Email: beumukoro@gmail.com; beumukoro@delsu.edu.ng | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5385-7820
Oghenerukevwe Ituru
Faculty of Law, Delta State University, Oleh Campus, Nigeria.
Email: outuru@delsu.edu.ng | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5216-8057
*Corresponding author
(2022) 02 (02) Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 1-28 https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp02.02.01
Accepted: 30 July 2022
No. of Abstract Views:
Published: 31 August 2022
No. of Paper Downloads:
The right to clean or healthy environment, or what may be called environmental right, is one of the most controversial emerging rights since the agitation for the recognition of the link between human rights and the environment started gaining momentum at international law forums. This is happening partly because, at the global level, no treaty attempts to delimit the scope of this right explicitly; an endeavour which would have served as a form of guide to national jurisdictions. Given that the UN General Assembly recently officially resolved that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a universal human right, and considering the implication this may have on national jurisdictions, it has become more imperative to redefine this right for the ease of enforcement. This paper seeks to examine the conceptual and the theoretical conundrum as well as the criticisms of the right to clean, safe and healthy environment that have largely played a prominent role against the enforcement of the rights in general. The paper also examines constitutional challenges associated with the recognition of the rights in Nigeria and the judicial effort in the case of Gbemre v SPDC in attempting to expound the constitutional right to life to include the right to the environment. The paper finds that the right to the environment has been described and qualified diversely from one jurisdiction to another rendering the same susceptible to the challenges of interpretation. The paper, however, suggests that given the importance of the right, same should be interpreted, no matter how it is qualified, to mean a right to an environment fit for human living, the courts being sufficiently able to draw the line between what environment is fit and what is not for human habitation.
Keywords: Recognition; Enforcement; Clean environment; Environmental right; Constitution; Justiciable; Nigeria
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Umukoro, B.E. and Ituru, O. (2022). Conceptual Challenges to the Recognition and Enforcement of the Right to Clean, Safe and Healthy Environment. Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 02 (02): 1-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp02.02.01
Umukoro, B.E., & Ituru, O. (2022). Conceptual Challenges to the Recognition and Enforcement of the Right to Clean, Safe and Healthy Environment. Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 02(02), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp02.02.01
Umukoro B.E., Ituru O. Conceptual Challenges to the Recognition and Enforcement of the Right to Clean, Safe and Healthy Environment. Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 2022, 02 (02), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp02.02.01
Umukoro, Brown Etareri, Ituru, Oghenerukevwe. 2022. “Conceptual Challenges to the Recognition and Enforcement of the Right to Clean, Safe and Healthy Environment”. Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 02 no. 02: 1-28. https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp02.02.01
Umukoro, Brown Etareri and Oghenerukevwe Ituru. 2022. “Conceptual Challenges to the Recognition and Enforcement of the Right to Clean, Safe and Healthy Environment”. Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, 02 (02): 1-28. https://doi.org/10.33002/jelp02.02.01
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