1 July 2021
In July
2020, history was made when Friends of the Irish Environment challenged the
Government in the Supreme Court – and won.
Climate
Case Ireland was a landmark legal action taken by Friends of the Irish
Environment. It wasthe first case in Ireland in which citizens fought to hold
their government accountable for its role in willingly and knowingly
contributing to dangerous levels of climate change.
The legal
team of Friends of the Irish Environment argued that the Irish Government’s
approval of the National Mitigation Plan in 2017 was in violation of Ireland’s Climate
Act 2015, the Irish Constitution and human rights obligations.
The case is
the first of its kind in Ireland and the second case worldwide in which the
highest national court of law ruled that a governments climate mitigation
policies do not comply with the law and must revise its national climate
policy.
The Supreme
Court judge, Chief Justice, Mr Justice Frank Clarke ruled that the Governments
climate policy was unlawful and was to be quashed and replaced with a new
climate action plan.
After the
success of Climate Case Ireland, a number of high-profile climate cases have
been occurring globally, as governments are being challenged over their climate
policies.
Systematic
climate cases are also working their way through the national courts of Norway,
Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, the United States, Canada, Peru
and South Korea.
One year on
from the historic win – Climate Case Ireland is calling
for the Irish Government to formally recognise the constitutional right to a
healthy, clean and sustainable environment.
The
organisation penned an open letter to the Department of Climate Action urging
the Government to a hold a Citizens’ Assembly on the biodiversity crisis before
the Dail breaks for its summer recess in mid-July.
In 2019,
the Dail officially declared a climate and biodiversity emergency and called
for a Citizens’ Assembly to examine how the State can improve its response to
biodiversity loss.
The problem is ” monstrous”
One year
since the Government’s public commitment to “progressing the establishment of a
Citizen’s Assembly on Biodiversity” – no further announcements have been made.
“It’s not a
radical request,” Fiona O’Malley of Climate Case Ireland told The Green News.
“We just want the Government to deliver what it said it would over two years
ago.”
Climate
Case Ireland are standing by the call for a Citizens’ Assembly as the appropriate
method to discuss the best ways to realise and successfully execute the right
to a safe, clean healthy and sustainable environment, while also discussing and
considering what a Just Transition means and how it can be achieved.
“Often at
times I think people can find the climate crisis difficult to talk about
because of the sheer scale of the problem. It’s monstrous,” said Ms O’Malley.
“But this
is the biggest crisis the world has faced in modern history.
“We cannot
stick our heads in the sand and act like the problem will somehow solve itself.
The science is telling us that we have a very small window of time in which we
can fix this,” she continued.
Climate
Case Ireland is stressing that the shortage of time to enact change and save
the climate is a key reason the reason for the Irish Government to announce a
date for a Citizens’ Assembly on the biodiversity crisis and the possibility of
the constitutional right to a healthy environment.
“The sooner
it’s [the right to a healthy environment] in the constitution, the better for
environmental justice and indeed human rights,” said Ms O’Malley.
In March,
Ireland – with 68 other countries – submitted a statement to the UN Human
Rights Council in which it contended that “a safe, clean, healthy, and
sustainable environment is integral to the full enjoyment.
The
document continues to state that Ireland as a signatory is committed to an
“open, transparent and inclusive dialogue” on a global level to the possible
recognition of the right and its impact on future generations.
Following
the statement, a group of more than 50 UN human rights experts called on States
to take urgent and timely action to recognise and implement the right to a
healthy and sustainable environment.
They stated
that the recognition of the right to a healthy environment is key to addressing
the environmental crisis and protecting human rights.
The adverse
effects of climate change are having disproportionate impacts on women, girls
and those who are already vulnerable to environmental harm, including those
living in poverty, minorities, older persons and racially and ethically
marginalized groups.
According
to the UN human rights experts, applying a rights-based approach to the
environmental crisis not only clarifies what is at stake but it emphasises
prevention, increases accountability and focuses on the needs of those most
affected.
The statement
recognised that if the right to a healthy environment was implemented and
respected, it would provide an important safeguard for people and the planet.
More than
1,100 civil society, child, youth and indigenous peoples’ organisations have
come together to call on Member States to recognise the right to a healthy
environment.
“It is time
for global recognition of the human right to a healthy environment –
recognition that can lead to stronger policies, at all levels, to protect our
planet and our children,” said the High Commissioner on Human Rights, Michelle
Bachelet.
Of the UN’s
193 members, 156 have written the right of a healthy environment into their
constitutions, legislation and regional treaties.
Ireland is
not one of the UN Member States to include the right, as there is no derived
constitutional right to a healthy environment under Ireland’s Constitution.
By Shauna Burdis
The post Climate Case Ireland: The right to a healthy environment “is not a radical request” appeared first on Green News Ireland.
