Environmental and Climate Crises as a Factor in the Development of Modern Constitutionalism and Environmental Security
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21564/2414-990X.159.268292Keywords:
environmental crisis, climate change, environmental justice, national environmental interests, environmental security, environmental state, environmental constitutionalism, nature rightsAbstract
Due to the significant and often deliberate human impact on the natural environment, there are serious problems facing both present and future generations of people. Today, ethical, religious, political and economic arguments in favor of preserving and protecting the environment are unfortunately not taken seriously enough in society. Our responsibilities towards other people explain why we have responsibilities towards the environment. On the other hand, there is a growing voice in favor of recognizing that our duties to nature derive from the rights of the very components of nature, its flora and fauna. This raises the question of recognizing the rights of nature. The constitutions of individual states interpret nature as a subject of rights. The assumed interconnectedness of humans and nature introduces a systemic worldview. This shift to a holistic narrative serves as a catalyst for the growing acceptance of the new systemic worldview. The "rights of nature" embody a distinctive position of agricultural and environmental ethics that sets limits on human activity and justifies a partnership with the planet. Legal equality is perceived as a prerequisite for a symmetrical conceptualization of human relations with the planet.
The environmental policy of the "green state" is aimed at ensuring sustainable development, which, among other things, includes ensuring environmental human rights, reducing socio-economic inequalities, eradicating environmental injustice (both within nation-states, regionally and globally, as well as between generations) and ensuring that the needs of the human economy do not exceed the regenerative capacity of the ecosystems on which this economy depends. In this context, there is a need for research on the political and institutional dynamics of the nation-state towards moving away from unsustainable development paths. Living in a sustainable ("green") political order, different from the current liberal-democratic one based on the laws of the free market, requires new legal, primarily constitutional, and institutional innovations. The purpose of this article is to invite a broad debate on the nature of the ecological state, its content and correlation with traditional principles of constitutionalism, and its impact on national security policy. Such a discussion will contribute to the recognition that the greening of the constitution is aimed at protecting national environmental interests and will contribute to improving environmental security.
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