Environmental rights amendment

An environmental rights amendment is type of amendment usually proposed to a constitution or a bill of rights. It seeks to outline and protect the environmental rights of people, such as clean water, clean air, and a stable climate.

The term is often used synonymously with the term “Green Amendment,” although Green Amendments were defined by the educational advocacy organization Green Amendments for the Generations and its founder Maya van Rossum who coined the term.

Environmental Rights Amendments and Green Amendments seek to guarantee people the right to a healthy environment. Related rights included in these proposals often include a right to a stable climate, clean air and water, environmental justice, preservation of natural, scenic, esthetic and historic values of the environment.

The right to a healthy environment can be implemented into constitutional law other ways, such as written into constitutions in their drafting, such as in Tunisia, or enforced through climate change litigation, such as in Colombia. In the United States, most advocates are focused on amending existing state constitutions or enforcing existing state constitutions, such as in Held v. Montana, where youth won a trial court judgment for enforcement the existing state constitution.