Human rights and nature: intercultural perspectives and international aspirations

Abstract

What is the impact of human rights on the protection of Nature? Considering the rapid development of international human rights law during the last century and the parallel degradation of the environment leading to climate change, it could be concluded that human rights have had a negative impact on environmental protection, or at least that they have not had a positive impact on it. This article aims to investigate whether this is true, and if so, how the issue can be addressed. The article challenges the mainstream (western) approach to human rights and proposes that intercultural perspectives provide the basis for alternative approaches with the potential to recognize and better protect the environment. The argument focuses on the indigenous peoples of Ecuador and Bolivia and identifies, in respect to environmental justice, a bridging movement between the western and non-western conceptions of human rights. It argues that the protection of Nature would benefit from the evolution of the concept of the ‘common inheritance of Humanity’ into the concept of the ‘living commons’, thereby identifying Nature and Humanity alike as living beings to be protected at the international level. The underlying supposition of the argument is accordingly that Nature is a living being with its own dignity and therefore is a subject rather than an object: Nature should not be reduced to an object and consequently, should not be protected simply due to Nature's instrumental role in relation to the well-being of human beings.