Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Should Environmental Protection Be Through Anthropocentric Rights?, Christen Maccone

Pace Environmental Law Review

Environmental constitutional rights are increasingly used as a strategy to protect the environment, with more than seventy countries acknowledging environmental rights in their constitutions. However, constitutions are inherently anthropocentric, making environmental rights created therein of- ten inseparable from human rights. This paper will examine how environ- mental constitutional rights are insufficient due to the anthropocentric nature of constitutions and argue for the need for a more biocentric approach.