Home > Press releases > 2002
16 Jan 2002
Thursday 17th January 6.30pm. John Horam MP, chairman of the Environment
Audit Select Committee will launch the final report from the ESRC funded
Global Environmental Change programme at the House of Commons.
The final report of the Global Environmental Change Programme is due
to be launched on Thursday 17th January by John Horam MP, chairman of
the Environment Audit Select Committee at the House of Commons.
John Horam said:
"Environmental factors experienced by the least well off in society
are clearly an important part of their social exclusion. This environmental
justice perspective shows that social justice considerations have never
been a sufficient part of the environmental agenda. The Environment
Audit Select Committee welcomes this report, which provides the first
evidence and the intellectual case. We now intend to take these ideas
forward in our dealings with government departments and agencies."
The report, which has been compiled by researchers at the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Friends of the Earth, brings together
ten years of research into how individuals and business organisations
are responsible for many of the threats to human and social well-being.
It concludes that social exclusion could be more effectively tackled
by giving a much greater emphasis to the links between environmental
problems and social injustices. The report cites research funded by
the ESRC and work undertaken by NGO and other academic researchers and
is based on the WHO 1999 Environment and Health Ministers Conference.
The report entitled 'Environmental Justice: the Rights and
Means to a Healthy Environment for All' brings together research
undertaken into the areas of environment, health, law, community development
and social justice.
Sir Donald Acheson, former Government Chief Medical Officer and chair of the 1998 inquiry into Inequalities in Health said:
"The foundations of this report are impeccable. As suggested here,
understanding environmental justice demands an 'Inequalities Impact
Assessment' requiring a research and development exercise and a sustainable
dedicated unit with a pan government view. So far this has not yet materialised.
Bearing in mind that the issues of environmental justice are intimately
linked with inequalities in health it would seem sensible that a unit
dedicated to inequalities impact assessment should be set up in government
to cover both. We recommend the creation of such a unit."
The environment justice perspective identifies four main ways in which
public policy could be improved.
It seeks to establish a 'Rights and Responsibilities' policy framework: a right to a healthy environment for all, with the responsibility for this shared by all - individuals and business alike.
Dr Carolyn Stephens of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, comments:
"Inequalities are not a new story. But environmental justice is
new in the sense that the law is changing to support disadvantaged communities
everywhere. Sooner or later, we in the UK will have to wake up to our
responsibilities towards each other in our society, towards others internationally,
and towards future generations. If not by choice, we will be forced
to do this by new legislation that will give communities locally and
internationally legal redress against injustice. By acting now as individuals
and as a society, we could reduce inequalities in health, environmental
degradation and social injustice. This will not be easy, but it is the
only way forward to sustainable healthy development."
Dr Stuart Parkinson of Friends of the Earth said:
"This report documents how our neglect of the environment is hurting
the very poorest in society. The evidence is clear: whether the problem
is pollution from traffic, toxic waste or climate change, the people
who bear the brunt of the effects are those that are already the most
vulnerable. Thinking about these issues in an environmental justice
framework provides new and stronger reasons to protect local communities
and the environment at the same time."
A full copy of the report can be ordered from friends of the Earth,
56-58 Alma Street, Luton LU1 2PH (code 503). Or you can download
it (PDF† format - 970 K)
Further details on the Economic and Social Research Council can be
found at:
http://www.esrc.ac.uk
Notes to Editors:
[1] As this document shows, led from Europe, a strong environmental
rights agenda based in law is building up, and this is likely to be
accompanied by an increased ability to prove environmental causation
and an increased use of law to defend people's rights to a healthy environment.
People suffering from environmental harm will be more able to seek redress
and defend themselves in future through the Aarhus Convention and the
Human Rights Act..
[2] Also, distribution will become a more and more prominent issue as
more resources from road space to the global atmosphere become scarcer.
Governments and companies which act early to change policies and practices
to reduce environmental injustices, and look ahead to meet the challenges
of how to distribute scarce environmental resources, will be much better
placed than those that react later.
[3] Charles Secrett, Director of Friends of the Earth, Sir Donald Acheson,
former Government Chief Medical Officer and John Horam MP, Chairman
of the Environment Audit Select Committee at the House of Commons and
a panel of experts will speak at the launch.
†To view PDF files you will need to download
Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these
documents from access.adobe.com.
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
