Human Rights and the Environment: A Synopsis and Some Predictions

Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, Spring 2004 by Hill, Barry E, Wolfson, Steve, Targ, Nicholas

Under Secretary Tuiran also reported that 63 of 121 major Mexican cities of 50,000 inhabitants face critical or very critical water shortages and direly need to implement conservation measures, provide water treatment facilities, and protect threatened water supplies. He went on to point out that the growth of these cities needs to be better regulated to absorb the flow of migration from the countryside, and if action was not taken soon, the sixty-three cities could be rendered practically uninhabitable. He stated that "[i]f we do not carefully control the development of our cities and the number of people living in them, we are compromising the future of the country."25

The environmental implications of this massive transition of people into Port-au-Prince, Cancun, Mexico City, and elsewhere throughout the developing world into the megacities, are quite significant. As these centers of humanity continue to become overpopulated and spread without effective urban planning, access to essential natural resources, like safe drinking water, will become an increasingly desperate problem. Moreover, these "new" urban dwellers generate massive amounts of waste that are disposed of both inside and outside of the megacities. And, in the process, the lack of planning will create or exacerbate urban environmental problems including, but not limited to: (1) inadequate supplies of clean and safe drinking water or sanitation services; (2) the uncontrolled disposal of untreated wastewater because of the lack of an expanded infrastructure; (3) increased air pollution because of the cocktail of pollutants from vehicular, energy, and industrial sources; and (4) the generation of tremendous amounts of solid and hazardous wastes that are, nevertheless, uncollected and disposed of in "unofficial" locations.

This foreseeable and already occurring crisis raises the following rhetorical questions. Are these "new" urban, poor dwellers entitled to clean water to use for drinking, cleaning, and cooking food? Are the urban poor entitled to sanitation services that are made available to others living in those megacities? Are the urban poor entitled to environmental justice as defined by community activists and government officials in the United States? Are the urban poor entitled to live in sustainable communities as defined by the international environmental law community? And, finally, are the urban poor entitled to a clean and healthy environment as a human right?

B. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: TOWARD A RIGHT TO A CLEAN AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

1. Environmental Justice - The U.S. Response

Environmental justice, as a public policy issue in the United States, addresses the needs and the environment of all communities. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines the term as follows:

Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair Treatment means that no group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state and local, and tribal environmental programs and policies. Meaningful Involvement means that: (1) potentially affected community residents have an appropriate opportunity to participate in decisions about a proposed activity that will affect their environment and/or health; (2) the public's contribution can influence the regulatory agency's decision; (3) the concerns of all participants involved will be considered in the decision-making process; and (4) the decision-makers seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.26