Archived press release

Call for Right to a Healthy Environment for All

16 January 2002

Leading MP launches call for a right to a healthy environment

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.

• Establish a 'rights-based assessment' whereby projects and policies are assessed for their impact directly and indirectly on people's environments and on the poorest in society, which goes beyond current environmental impact assessments.
• Change decision-making processes to involve those likely to be affected by 'environmental injustices' and support these communities to increase their control over the decisions taken by public authorities, Government and businesses.
• Ensure that social, economic and environmental policy aims are fully integrated to help achieve a healthy and sustainable future.

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.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust