The Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment

A clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is widely regarded as a necessary precondition for the enjoyment of many long-established and universally recognized human rights, including the right to life, the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to sufficient food, the right to housing, the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, the right to participate in cultural life, and so on. Negative impacts or damage done to the environment hinder the enjoyment of these and other human rights. Despite this international consensus about the close link between human rights and a healthy environment, there is still no global agreement about the precise legal place of the environment in the international human rights discourse. The most pressing question is whether there is a distinct individual