Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-15T17:34:41.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Minimum Standards

from Part II - The Environmental Minimum under the ECHR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2021

Stefan Theil
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

The chapter explores the ECHR approach to the minimum standards of the environmental minimum. These standards apply once a specific risk has been established and are derived either from domestic and international legal norms, or in lieu of these, established and emerging scientific evidence. Notably, unclear or contradictory scientific evidence grants states a wide margin of appreciation in formulating a regulatory response. Should a violation of minimum standards be established, individuals have a claim based on the right invoked at the specific risk stage. The question for the ECHR case law is whether it requires the enforcement of legal norms, and mandates subsidiary recourse to established and emerging scientific evidence in their absence. The ECHR generally meets these requirements: a clear majority of cases where domestic environmental regulations were ignored by authorities also resulted in a violation of the ECHR. However, the chapter acknowledges some enduring concerns, notably the failure of the Court to invariabley find violations where states fail to consistently enforce domestic law and its deferential approach in some cases where a state had no legal norms to enforce.

Type
Chapter
Information
Towards the Environmental Minimum
Environmental Protection through Human Rights
, pp. 169 - 183
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Minimum Standards
  • Stefan Theil, University of Oxford
  • Book: Towards the Environmental Minimum
  • Online publication: 27 August 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108891769.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Minimum Standards
  • Stefan Theil, University of Oxford
  • Book: Towards the Environmental Minimum
  • Online publication: 27 August 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108891769.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Minimum Standards
  • Stefan Theil, University of Oxford
  • Book: Towards the Environmental Minimum
  • Online publication: 27 August 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108891769.008
Available formats
×