Environmental Rights
Recognition, Implementation, Outcomes, and Alternatives
James R. May(Author)
Edward Elgar Publishing
Will be published approx. on 23. June 2026
Book
Hardback
282 pages
978-1-80392-349-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book provides a comprehensive and compelling examination of the emergence of environmental rights in laws, constitutions and court rulings worldwide. Drawing on empirical research and data-driven analysis, James R. May engages the opportunities and challenges in translating the global recognition of environmental rights into functional and practical improvements in environmental outcomes.
May explores both the hope that environmental rights provide for improving outcomes for environmental quality, climate change, and the human condition and how judicial reluctance, textual ambiguity, lack of standards and socio-political barriers can thwart implementation of the right to a healthy environment even when written into law at international, regional and national levels. May explains the growing significance of alternative legal channels for achieving the aims of environmental rights, including socioeconomic rights, such as the rights to life, dignity, health, Nature, participation and sustainability, and subnational constitutions, to promote alternative legal frameworks for environmental protection when explicit environmental rights are absent, overlooked or unenforceable.
Environmental Rights is essential reading for scholars and students of environmental, comparative and human rights law, seeking to understand the legal architecture and implementation challenges of international environmental rights. It also provides valuable frameworks for practitioners and policymakers in advocacy, the judiciary and interdisciplinary fields concerned with sustainability and justice.
May explores both the hope that environmental rights provide for improving outcomes for environmental quality, climate change, and the human condition and how judicial reluctance, textual ambiguity, lack of standards and socio-political barriers can thwart implementation of the right to a healthy environment even when written into law at international, regional and national levels. May explains the growing significance of alternative legal channels for achieving the aims of environmental rights, including socioeconomic rights, such as the rights to life, dignity, health, Nature, participation and sustainability, and subnational constitutions, to promote alternative legal frameworks for environmental protection when explicit environmental rights are absent, overlooked or unenforceable.
Environmental Rights is essential reading for scholars and students of environmental, comparative and human rights law, seeking to understand the legal architecture and implementation challenges of international environmental rights. It also provides valuable frameworks for practitioners and policymakers in advocacy, the judiciary and interdisciplinary fields concerned with sustainability and justice.
Reviews / Votes
'Professor May delivers a tour de force volume on environmental rights, one that is as expansive in scope as it is deep with analysis. He makes a compelling case for enlarging the list of rights that qualify as environmental, a sober indicator of humanity's continued toll on our planet.' -- Joshua Gellers, University of North Florida, USA 'Environmental rights are now firmly entrenched in international law. In this volume, Professor James May masterfully examines their emergence and application, their relationship to climate, sustainability, and dignity, and their application at global, national and sub-national levels. It is a must read for anybody studying environmental rights.' -- Sumudu Atapattu, University of Wisconsin Law School, USA 'James R. May's brilliant work is a valuable resource for academics and anyone interested in learning about global environmental constitutionalism. It offers an overview of relevant knowledge and provides a critical analysis of the merits of constitutionalizing environmental rights in comparison to other strategies for enhancing the right to a healthy environment.' -- Yann Aguila, Partner, Bredin Prat, FranceMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80392-349-9 (9781803923499)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
James R. May, Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law, USA and President and Founder, Dignity Rights Advocates
Content
Contents
Preface and acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 Emergence of the right to a healthy environment
3 Implementing environmental human rights
4 Outcomes in environmental human rights
5 Right to life and socioeconomic rights
6 Human dignity rights
7 Rights to a healthy climate
8 Rights of Nature
9 Procedural environmental rights
10 Subnational recognition
11 Sustainability rights
12 Conclusion
Preface and acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 Emergence of the right to a healthy environment
3 Implementing environmental human rights
4 Outcomes in environmental human rights
5 Right to life and socioeconomic rights
6 Human dignity rights
7 Rights to a healthy climate
8 Rights of Nature
9 Procedural environmental rights
10 Subnational recognition
11 Sustainability rights
12 Conclusion