We live in an age of extinction. The current geological epoch in which Earth and humanity finds ourselves is the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is an age in which human activity is the primary influence on the planet’s climate and environment; it is proving to be a devastating period, tantamount to an extinction event.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS IN CLIMATE LAW

The global threat of human-induced climate change results in a number of contentious situations and, increasingly, legal disputes. Climate change is driving activists and litigants to reimagine pre-existing legal norms in light of its many strands of contention and uncertainty. Increasingly, plaintiffs are advancing strong, rights-based arguments in the courtroom.

Climate litigation is a growing global trend, coinciding with the Paris Agreement and the alignment of the global environmental movement with international human rights. In the courtroom, plaintiffs--generally NGOs and individuals--urge defendants--most often governments and, more recently, corporations--to aggressively address climate change and to enforce or enhance existing climate policies more effectively.

The number of climate change-related actions currently stands at approximately 1,500 worldwide. Gbemre v Shell Petroleum is a notable Nigerian case, representing one of the few climate-related cases premised on the rights entrenched under the African Charter. The landmark case Leghari v Federation of Pakistan also directly relied on fundamental rights to rule that the Pakistani government’s failure to sufficiently combat climate change violated petitioners’ rights.

This growing pattern has its roots in the grassroots climate justice movement, which is framed in pluralistic terms of social justice, democracy, and sustainability. The plaintiffs in Juliana v United States, a case still pending in US courts, assert that the US government violated the rights of the youth and that of future generations by allowing governmental activity that significantly harmed their rights to life and liberty.

THE VALUE OF STRATEGIC CLIMATE LITIGATION

The importance of a rights-based approach goes beyond the mere winning of a case. It is also a “win” in this kind of strategic litigation when the publicity of a lawsuit elevates the social consciousness regarding climate policy, bringing attention on a mass scale to the fundamental rights impacted by climate change.  A human rights framework for environmental litigation centers the conversation on both the human causes and human impact of climate change; it explicitly recognizes our Anthropocene epoch and encourages a new array of legal arguments to enforce the necessary protection of our Earth.

The need to import fundamental rights into the climate regime underlies a need to reimagine society as a whole. Humanity needs to move from an economy of extraction to one based on restoration, from a society where we relate to one another competitively to one where we relate to each other cooperatively. This is possible in a world premised on the sanctity and symbiosis of international human and environmental rights

Human Rights Pulse core team member, Vaughn is passionate about sustainability and human rights, his scholarship and writing focuses on international law, climate change and transitional justice.

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