환경인권과 환경자연권리 - 생태주의 관점에서 본 환경인권 발전의 이론적 고찰 -

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to expand the relationship between human rights and the environment to not only human rights to environment, that is, environmental human rights, but also rights of nature to environment, that is, environmental rights of nature from an eco-centric perspective, and examine the rationale. Theories of the relationship between the environment and humans are roughly divided into instrumental value theory and intrinsic value theory. From the former point of view, since nature should be protected to be served for human beings, environmental human rights refers to the protection of the environment mainly for human beings. On the other hand, from the latter point of view, not only a healthy environment for humans but also a healthy environment for nature is needed because nature and humans have their own intrinsic value in the global ecosystem. Since the 1972 Human Environment Declaration, the international community, led by the UN, has been advocating for the relationship between nature and humans to be ‘coexistence in harmony with nature’. The interpretation of this harmonious coexistence has a big difference according to the instrumental value and the intrinsic value theory. The former means harmonious coexistence for human interest, and the latter means harmonious coexistence for the global ecosystem by recognizing the rights of nature. To date, there is no binding international convention that recognizes rights of nature, but the United Nations has been recognizing indirectly rights of nature through international documents with a declaratory nature, such as the 1982 UN World Charter for Nature, 1987 WCED Our Common Future Report, and 2000 The Earth Charter. Meanwhile, as a healthy environment is recognized as an essential human right, environmental human rights lawsuits are continuing in line with the regional human rights court. Except for the European Court of Human Rights(ECtHR), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, African Courts of Human Rights, and Arab Human Rights Courts recognize the jurisdiction of environmental human rights. In addition, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Lhaka Honhat case in 2020 applied healthy environmental human right for the first time, considering the right as an autonomous right and interpreted it from an ecocentric perspective. In other words, the right to a healthy environment was viewed as an autonomous right enjoyed not only by humans but also by nature. Just as human rights theory has a theoretical background on natural rights, rights of nature theory has a background on natural rights. From an ecological perspective, environmental human rights is to ensure that the minimum standards of morality in which human dignity and the dignity of nature are harmoniously maintained. As human beings are stewards of the good life of nature, when self-limiting stewardship code is clearly defined, the sustainable development of the earth’s ecosystem will be possible.