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August 22, 2023
Making Environmental Rights Real
One of the most troubling aspects of Brexit (take your pick) is that the environmental protections that have been developed over many years have effectively disappeared and are in some way to be replaced by a new set of domestic arrangements (currently out to consultation). Coinciding with the consultation on the Human Rights Bill and the potential for a legally enforceable human right to a healthy environment, this has the potential to be a moment of real change. The emergence of the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland has been critical to this process – as is their Environmental Rights Summit next month.
Want to find out more about Environmental Rights and why they matter?
Come and find out at our first Environmental Rights Summit!
Prof David Boyd, Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, will be our keynote speaker.
This summer, with the consultations on environmental governance and the Human Rights Bill, we have the chance to tell the government what we need for an enforceable human right to a healthy environment.
Join us to be the collective voice in demanding access to environmental justice in a court of law and ensuring our substantive and procedural rights are protected in the new Human Rights Bill.
We will have the day to share our hopes and aspirations for a greener, healthier and fairer Scotland for everyone.
There will be plenty of opportunities for exchanging ideas, tips and learning, including workshops on:
- Using freedom of information requests to hold public bodies to account – from The Ferret
- Challenging poor planning decisions and campaigning for a fairer system – from Planning Democracy
- Using strategic litigation to enforce environmental protection – from ERCS
- How to advance the Rights of Nature – from Lawyers for Nature
This will be an in-person event for ERCS members, supporters, community campaigners, the voluntary sector and all our networks.
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Event details
Wednesday, 6 September 10am-4.30pm.
Venue: Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, Edinburgh EH9 1PL.
Programme outline
10am: Welcome
10.30 – 12.30pm: Workshops + Break
12.30pm: Voices for Justice speak out – the experience of ERCS’s advice clients
1pm: Lunch and networking
2pm: Prof David Boyd, Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment and Prof Elisa Morgera, Professor of Global Environmental Law at Strathclyde University
2.40pm: Scottish Government Human Rights Bill Team
3.30pm: The state of environmental governance in Scotland: what it is and what needs to be fixed?
Panel discussion with Environmental Standards Scotland, Professor Campbell Gemmell and others.
4.15pm: Closing remarks