The Conditions and Limits for the Recognition of Environmental Rights as a Constitutional Right as an Emerging Right

ZHANG Wanting*

Abstract: In recent years, there have been numerous academic discussions the environmental rights, and there has been ongoing debate about whether environmental rights can become a constitutional right and whether their focus is on the environment itself or on health. Although the current Constitution contains provisions on environmental protection, they do not appear in the form of fundamental rights. From a comparative law perspective, while international conventions tend to regard environmental rights as an international human right, most countries only partially recognize their claim-related attributes, often treating them more as a state objective. There is a close connection between environmental protection and the realization of health, but environmental protection has its own independent value. There is no doubt that environmental protection is a constitutional value, however, the constitutional environmental rights can only be claimed when they are closely related to health. In a risk-oriented society, the claim-related attributes, normative connotations, and scope of protection of the right to a healthy environment should be defined from three aspects: inviolability, risk prevention, and positive protection.

Keywords: right to a healthy environment · fundamental rights · state protection · risk prevention