Caroline Lucas MP will this evening call for the creation of an Environmental Rights Commission - a watchdog to help individuals and communities fight to protect their environment from pollution and over-development.
Speaking at a seminar (1) hosted by the UK Environmental Law Association, Caroline Lucas will draw comparisons between the fight against discrimination in the 1970s and 1980s and the fight for environmental rights today.
The Green Party leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion said today:
“In the UK, people’s rights to a decent environment free from pollution, over-development and other forms of degradation are simply not strong enough. But even where we have rights, it can be incredibly difficult to uphold these against developers, businesses and often the Government itself. For many, legal fees in particular are simply unaffordable.
“Just as the fight for women’s rights was supported by an effective and properly-resourced statutory body, the Equal Opportunities Commission, so we need an independent body now to help individuals and communities fight for their environmental rights.
“That is why I am proposing the establishment of a Environmental Rights Commission. This body would be on a statutory base, with sufficient resources to support legal challenges that would not only help individuals or groups, but also advance the position of the environment at a national level, so benefiting us all.
“In its 22-year life, the Equal Opportunities Commission brought many test cases on issues such as pensions entitlements for part-time workers – cases that have meant justice for millions of women who had been discriminated against during their working lives. So too this new Environmental Rights Commission could bring cases in areas such as environmental human rights, protecting wildlife and biodiversity, or ensuring that new developments are truly ‘sustainable’.”
Notes
1. The seminar is on the theme: What does the Coalition Government have planned for the environment? What are the challenges ahead? It will be chaired by Nicholas Schoon, editor of ENDS, and will feature Caroline Lucas MP, Tom Burke and Lord Colin Boyd QC.