The journey of environmental justice through public and international law

Introduction The environmental justice discourse has its origins in the 1980s. Then, US academics and activists advocated an alternative environmental concept that promoted the creation of an environmental justice movement. This social movement was characterised by its opposition to potentially harmful industries and activities being permitted in less advantaged neighbourhoods and regions throughout the country. ‘Environmental justice’ demanded equal access to environmental services and a sharing of potentially environmentally harmful land uses. The social movement argued that governments were discriminating against coloured, ethnic and poor communities by permitting pollution in their environments in greater proportion than in other places. There was a miscarriage of environmental justice even though environmental laws were used and applied to the controversy. In the early 1990s the environmental justice movement successfully agitated for change in US domestic policy and law. Although the political climate and environmental priorities have changed, the environmental justice argument still resonates and can be understood and observed in other contexts. In the years following the rise of the environmental justice discourse, it has refocused. Environmental justice now also includes rights to participate in environmental decision-making; a trend embraced and promoted heavily by some regional and public laws. The related notion of ecological justice, doing justice for the environment, also now demands rights for the ecosphere. At the same time as the meaning and understanding of environmental justice has broadened, the concept of environmental justice and its associated movements have internationalised and translocated largely due to the globalisation of environmental concerns and the internationalisation of environmental law. This in turn has led to greater connections between public laws and international laws. Today the concept of environmental justice guides domestic, regional and international law and policy. In particular, the concept is the subject of proposed revived environmental justice laws in the United States seeking to codify earlier guidance for regulators to avoid environmentally unjust outcomes in its assessment and approval of potentially harmful activities. Environmental justice ideals are also now embedded in the European Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. Further, environmental justice concerns are expressed in the context of international trade in hazardous waste and exploited natural resources, and the cause, effect and responsibility to respond to climate change.