The Right to a Healthy Environment in and Beyond the Anthropocene

Edited by Hendrik Schoukens, Professor, Environmental Law, Centre for Environmental and Energy Law, University of Ghent and Lawyer at the Brussels Bar and Farah Bouquelle, Assistant, Environmental Law, Centre for Environmental and Energy Law, University of Ghent, Belgium

Contents:

Introduction: the right to a healthy environment revisited as
a necessary leverage point in times of climate crisis in Europe
and beyond? 1
Hendrik Schoukens and Farah Bouquelle

PART I REPOSITIONING THE RIGHT TO
A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT IN
A CHANGING INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT:
OVERARCHING CONCEPTUAL AND LEGAL
QUESTIONS
1 A half-century journey of human rights and the
environment in the international arena: from separation to
integration 34
Meng Zhang
2 Greening the European Convention on Human Rights:
how to determine the substance of environmental human rights? 53
Laurens Lavrysen
3 Strengthening the link between human health and biodiversity 72
An Cliquet and Frank Maes

PART II THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
FRAMED WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF EU
CLIMATE CHANGE, AIR QUALITY AND
WATER LAW: SHAKING UP THE HABITUAL?
4 The Shell case and the human rights argument in climate
litigation: building the narrative? 94
Carole M. Billiet
5 Healthy air as an obligation of result in the whole
European Union: definitely a matter of time 116
Delphine Misonne
6 The right to water and the right to a healthy environment:
does the Water Framework Directive map out the way ahead? 136
Peter De Smedt and Helena F.M.W. Van Rijswick

PART III NATURE AND ANIMAL WELFARE IN
EUROPE REVISITED: REINTERPRETING
THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
BEYOND THE ANTHROPOCENTRIC FRAMEWORK
7 Right to a healthy environment: linking ecocentrism with
anthropocentrism 166
Kari Kuusiniemi
8 Rights of nature in the European Union: a rights-based
approach as an inevitable outcome of increased
environmental protection in the Anthropocene? 184
Hendrik Schoukens
9 Some explorations about extending the right to a healthy
environment to future generations and animals 227
Geert Van Hoorick and Elien Verniers

PART IV CASE STUDIES FROM EUROPE AND
BEYOND: CROSS-POLLINATION OR LIVING
APART TOGETHER?
10 The right to a healthy environment and climate change:
a necessary match? 247
Robert Carnwath
11 China and the right to a healthy environment in the last
decade: practices from an unexpected frontrunner 259
Jianwei Zhang
12 Green constitutionalism in Belgium: the right to a healthy
environment as a principle of non-regression 285
Jan Theunis

PART V CHALLENGES TO ENFORCE THE RIGHT TO
A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT: BRIDGING
THE GAP BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE
13 Right to a healthy environment and the remediation of
ecological damage: seeking effective remedies? 304
Ann Carette
14 The role of national courts: does the right to a healthy
environment make a difference to the environment?
Lessons learnt from national court rulings 322
Fruzsina Bögös
15 Civil disobedience for a healthy environment 339
Pierre Lefranc