About the project

To chart a path forward – towards ecological restoration, not collapse – we need tools that can target the drivers of the current existential threats we face – namely, climate change, biodiversity loss and toxic pollution – and the harms they generate. The right to a healthy environment (R2HE) is one such powerful tool. 

Most countries understand that implementation of R2HE prevents degradation, and protects and promotes the healthy environment that all humans depend on. Therefore, for years, states have recognized R2HE through their constitutions and laws or by acceding to regional treaties that incorporate the right. This global recognition has been bolstered by UN resolutions formally recognizing the right as an international human right. 

Given the widespread recognition of the right, a sizable and robust framework that includes the judicial and legislative articulation of R2HE has and continues to develop. While this means that efforts to implement and improve compliance with the right are not starting from square one, it also means that a vast and complex universe of R2HE jurisprudence and judicial practices exists. 

NYU Law’s R2HE Toolkit, created in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme, seeks to shed light on this universe. The Toolkit is the first-ever database of global R2HE recognition, and case law analysis. It offers insights into the legal recognition of R2HE, significant R2HE case law, compiles country-specific profiles and identifies cross-cutting approaches and practices used across jurisdictions globally. The project also makes available expert reports and articles unpacking the right’s scope, content and on-the-ground developments. Through these activities, the R2HE Toolkit aims to support the implementation of R2HE, so that it may ultimately provide communities, governments and ecosystems with tangible benefits.

We encourage submissions and recommendations of cases and analyses for the Toolkit. To submit a case or recommendation, contact us at era@nyu.edu.