The degradation of the environment, air and water pollution, threatened food security, and the decay of ecosystems are just a few consequences of climate change. All of this negatively impacts the enjoyment of human rights, such as the right to life or right to health. The logical answer is the establishment of the right to a healthy environment. This right is already written in many constitutions and national legal systems, as well as in some regional international documents. In 2022 the General Assembly of the UN recognized the right in their Resolution 76/300. As states often fail to protect this right in accordance with their obligations, individuals started filing climate lawsuits to address their right to a healthy environment. Climate lawsuits are primarily filed in national courts, where individuals demand prompt action and the fulfillment of their duties regarding environmental protection and the mitigation of climate change. The past few high-profile climate cases showed that climate litigation is an effective, but complicated form of addressing the violations of the right to a healthy environment. Lately numerous climate lawsuits were filed, mostly due to the strategic lawsuits and consequently notorious judgments.
Different courts interpret the right to a healthy environment differently, yet there are still some shared elements that could serve as a foundation for a potential unified definition of the right to a healthy environment in the future, along with adequate protection on an international level. The analysis of the right to a healthy environment in climate judgments is one of the many aspects of the system of environmental protection and the human right to a healthy environment.
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