The Fundamental Human Right to a Healthy Environment

The development of environmental law as a new instrument of protecting the environment necessary to the health of people and to life is of course involved in recognizing the fundamental values consecrated in the declarations of rights and public freedoms. Environmental law has led to lengthy debates regarding the existence of the human right to an adequate environment.
Internationally, numerous declarations establish the recognition of the human right to an environment, as an expression of the fundamental importance of the environment to people. In this sense the Stockholm declaration (1972) illustrates that “man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being, and he bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and future generations (Principle 1)”.