It is time to update the Rio Declaration of 1992, where attending countries set out a non-binding action plan for sustainable development, according to Supreme Court Justice Lord Carnwath. Delivering the keynote lecture at the Justice Conference on Human Rights Law 2018, hosted by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s London office last week, Lord Carnwath said: ‘The Rio Declaration has served us well, and will continue to do so.
‘But 25 years on I can see the case for updating and refinement. I can also see the merits of a concise and authoritative statement of the now well-established principles of environment law, agreed at the highest international level.’
In the lecture, titled ‘Human rights and the environment’, he traced the development of the right to a healthy environment in human rights conventions, citing developments in Columbia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Spain, Italy and other countries.
