CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Farrukh, Muhammad Salman |
|---|---|
| Title | Environmental Constitutionalism in South Asia: A Comparative Study of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh |
| Summary | One of the particular inspirations behind writing on a subject like environmental constitutionalism lies in the fact of its post-colonial origins. From a historical logic, the development of environmental regime has been more inclusive and representative of wider global community compared to the epistemology of prevalent socio-political ideas that we know in today’s world. In this thesis, I briefly discuss the role played by Southeast Asian region, particularly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, in putting the importance of environmental issues at the center of world’s conscience. Moving towards the core of the argument, this thesis attempts to understand the connection between the influence of the role played by the Southeast Asian region at the global level and its practical manifestations in the local context of all the comparator states. This is done through observing the behavior of key institutions of the state- particularly that of the constitutional courts. In doing so, I am compelled to scrutinize the similarities in the constitutional designs of all comparator states, and discuss the robust role of the judiciary in providing the impetus for constitutional environmentalism with full thrust. Despite the judicially unenforceable nature of environmental rights in the constitutions, I discuss the contributions of constitutional jurisprudence in driving and advancing the environmental regime despite all odds. Special reference and dedication are given to the importance of “right to life” in becoming a legal justification for the courts to incorporate the right to healthy environment as a natural part and parcel of the aforementioned right. 3 Further down, I also discuss the successive liberalization of standing rules (or locus standi) in human rights cases and the invent of “public interest litigation” channeled through highest courts in both countries. The already existing avenues of public interest litigation in human rights cases with wider standing rules provided for a more conducive space for the environmental regime to thrive and flourish from the highest level of law in place. I shall also discuss the various trickle down and ripple effects of such jurisprudence, specially through highlighting several new fundamental rights that the constitutional courts in the comparator countries ended up crafting, without express reference or inclusion in the texts of the constitution Briefly, I highlight how the courts are often accused of judicial activism, which is considered to be a threat to the separation of power and transgression of authority. Any challenges faced by the courts in terms implementation of their orders in environmental cases, such as cooperation from the executive is also discussed in the context of courts’ suspected abilities to deal with environmental matters. Further, along with that, I also take the issue of environmental constitutionalism from an eco- centric approach, that, in some ways, takes a head-on collision with the anthropocentric approach. I give some brief examples from the Latin American region to demonstrate how constitutions in the region are viewing nature as the subject of environmental constitutionalism, rather than humans. However, eventually, I point out some of the practical challenges and loopholes in the ecocentric approach and argue how the anthropocentric approach still provides promising prospects for the advancement of environmental cause through constitutional gateways |
| Supervisor | Bockenforde, Markus |
| Department | Legal Studies LLM |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/farrukh_muhammad.pdf |
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