Write short notes on Role of courts in protection of environment.
Answers
The environment is the resource base for all life and is the basis on which many of our fundamental rights depend (EDO NSW and EDO Victoria, 2009), as humans we have the right to live in a clean and healthy environment, with clean water and unpolluted air. We have the right to preserve the environment for aesthetic, non utilitarian reasons and safeguard it for future generations. Globally, environmental protection is equally important for everyone, as human life cannot be sustained in a degraded environment. As the environment significantly affects each and everyone of us, its preservation warrants vital protection at a high political level.
Environmental awareness is becoming more prominent both inside and outside the courts. Globally, the legal protection of environmental rights is often found in a Environmental Charter or in some cases the constitution. A charter is a formal declaration of environment values which affords a degree of legal recognition and protection beyond that of normal legislation (Fisher, 2003). In Australia we do not have a charter for the environment nor is environmental protection written into our constitution.
In this essay I will look at the role of the courts in protecting environmental rights and discuss the shift of balance between the courts and parliament if an Environmental Charter is introduced into the Australian legal system. I will further argue what role I believe the court should take in the protection of environment rights.