The relationship between international human rights law and the environment has been of interest to scholars and activists for some time, yet recent years have seen a rapid evolution of the issues. Increasingly, activists bring cases relating human rights concerns to issues such as climate change, the discriminatory effects of environmental degradation, and soil and water pollution from mineral exploration activities. Matters are heard before domestic courts and international human rights bodies, such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights. The high visibility of transnational and global environmental challenges, and the severe impacts they impose upon vulnerable groups — including women, children, and indigenous people — has generated interest in the role that international human rights and environmental law play in addressing such problems.
As Professor Knox has noted, many issues still require further study and clarification. This symposium represents one important effort to explore pressing issues in the field. The main papers for this symposium address: the relationship to food security; compensation questions related to the rising sea-level caused by climate change; the rights of indigenous people to land and natural resources; and the relationship between substantive and procedural components of the human right to a healthy environment.