Human Rights and the Environment: In Search of a New Relationship. Synergies and Common Themes

Evadne Grant; Louis J. Kotzé; Karen Morrow

Authors

Evadne Grant University of the West of England
Louis J. Kotzé North West University
Karen Morrow Swansea University

Keywords:

Vulnerability, limits of law, limits of rights, responsibility, interconnection, ecological reorientation, ecological thinking, Vulnerabilidad, límites de la ley, limites de los derechos, responsabilidad, interconexión, reorientación ecológica, pensamient

Abstract

The 2012 Oñati Workshop on Human Rights and the Environment sought to begin the important task of developing a new framework that could contribute to re-imagining the relationship between human rights and the environment. Doing full justice to the vibrant and sustained discussion that took place in response to the papers delivered in the Workshop is near impossible in an ex post facto account that can only convey the merest flavour of the richness and complexity of what took place. Nonetheless, the following sections briefly recollect common themes and valuable insights that emerged during the workshop discussions and attempt to reflect the energy and creativity that accompanied them, with a view to setting out the general context within which the various individual papers in this volume should be considered. We have arranged the subsequent discussion to centre on the core discrete yet interrelated themes that emerged and developed during our workshop deliberations, namely: vulnerability; the limits of the law; the limits of rights; responsibility; interconnection; and thinking ecologically.

El seminario sobre Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente celebrado en Oñati en 2012, buscó iniciar la importante tarea de desarrollar un nuevo marco que podría contribuir a re-imaginar la relación entre los derechos humanos y el medio ambiente. Haciendo justicia a la discusión vibrante y prolongada que tuvo lugar en respuesta a las ponencias presentadas en el taller, es casi imposible en un recuento ex post facto que sólo puede transmitir una mínima parte de la riqueza y complejidad de lo acontecido en Oñati. No obstante, las siguientes secciones recogen brevemente temas comunes y valiosas ideas que surgieron durante las discusiones del taller y tratan de reflejar la energía y creatividad que los acompañaba, con el fin de establecer el marco general dentro del cual las diversas ponencias individuales de este volumen deberían ser consideradas. Hemos organizado el debate posterior para centrarnos en el discreto núcleo aún interrelacionado con temas que surgieron y se desarrollaron durante nuestras deliberaciones de los talleres, a saber: la vulnerabilidad, los límites de la ley, los límites de los derechos, la responsabilidad, la interconexión, y el pensamiento ecológico.

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Author Biographies

Evadne Grant, University of the West of England

Evadne Grant is Associate Head of Department and Postgraduate Programme Leader in the Department of Law, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. She has taught at the Universities of Cape Town and of the Witwatersrand, as well as City University London and Oxford Brookes University. Her research covers a variety of issues in international human rights law, including human dignity, social, economic and cultural rights, and human rights and the environment. She is assistant editor for the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment (Edward Elgar) and Coordinator for the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment (http://gnhre.org/). University of the West of England. Department of Law. Frenchay Campus. Coldharbour Lane. Bristol BS16 1QY. United Kingdom. evadne.grant@uwe.ac.uk

Louis J. Kotzé, North West University

Louis J. Kotzé is Professor of Environmental Law at the Faculty of Law, North-West University, South Africa and Visiting Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom. He specialises in environmental constitutionalism. In addition to being assistant editor for the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment (Edward Elgar) and Transnational Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press), Louis is Deputy-director of the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment (http://gnhre.org/). Private Bag X6001. North-West University. Faculty of Law. Potchefstroom Campus. Potchefstroom 2520. South Africa. Louis.Kotze@nwu.ac.za

Karen Morrow, Swansea University

Karen Morrow was educated at the Queen’s University of Belfast and King’s College London. She has lectured at Buckingham, Durham and Leeds and the Queen’s Universities and has been Professor of Environmental Law at Swansea University since 2007. Her research interests focus on theoretical and practical aspects of public participation in environmental law and policy and gender and the environment. She co-edits the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, and is a founder member and part of the core team of the related Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment. She serves on the editorial boards of the Environmental Law Review and the University of Western Australia Law Review. She is an associate member of the Monash European and EU Law Centre. She is a member of the EU’s COST network working group on “Gender, Science, Technology and Environment” (genderSTE). Swansea University. School of Law. Singleton Park. Swansea SA2 8PP. United Kingdom. K.Morrow@swansea.ac.uk