The Right to Use Natural Resources as an Environmental Human Right: Development and Legal Improvement 

— Reflections in the Era of the Environmental Code

GONG Gu* & LI Jingtong**

Abstract: The right to use natural resources constitutes an important component of environmental human rights, and its legal protection has become a key issue in ecological civilization construction. The international community has gradually developed a framework extending from state sovereignty toward human rights protection, confirming the legitimacy and necessity of this right. China’s system of natural resource use rights, based on state ownership, has played a critical role in protecting the public interests of human rights, but remains institutionally underdeveloped. Although the Ecological and Environmental Code of the People’s Republic of China provides relevant institutional design, deficiencies remain. Future efforts should focus on the implementation of the Code to strengthen institutional development and improve the legal system governing natural resource use rights.

Keywords: the right to use natural resources ·  Ecological and Environmental Code ·  environmental rights and interests ·  legislative improvement