L\u2019intervenant M. Julien Vieira est avocat au barreau de Bordeaux, docteur en Droit et membre de l\u2019institut du droit \u00e0 l\u2019environnement de Bordeaux. Il a fait sa th\u00e8se en doctorat sur l\u2019\u00e9co-citoyennet\u00e9 et d\u00e9mocratie environnementale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M Vieira a commenc\u00e9 la pr\u00e9sentation par les origines du droit \u00e0 l\u2019environnement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le droit \u00e0 un environnement sain serait souvent qualifi\u00e9 de droit de 3\u00e8me g\u00e9n\u00e9ration. (1\u00e8re g\u00e9n\u00e9ration\u00a0: droit \u00e0 la libert\u00e9, 2nde g\u00e9n\u00e9ration\u00a0: droits \u00e9conomiques, sociaux et culturels).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The oldest text recognizing the right to a healthy environment is an international law text adopted at the World Conference on the Environment (Stockholm, June 1972). \u201cMan has a fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notre interlocuteur explique que le droit international et les droits internes ont hiss\u00e9 le droit \u00e0 l\u2019environnement sain au rang de libert\u00e9 fondamentale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We learn that Africa is defined as the pioneer region of the right to the environment. The African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights (1981) is the 1st international treaty to recognize this right as a collective right (article 24) and is protected by the African Court on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights (1998).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
En Am\u00e9rique, on a l\u2019article 11 du protocole additionnel \u00e0 la Convention am\u00e9ricaine relatif aux droits de l\u2019Homme (1999), qui dispose que chacun a le droit de vivre dans un environnement sain et de b\u00e9n\u00e9ficier des \u00e9quipements publics essentiels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
En Europe, c\u2019est la Convention d\u2019Aarhus qui est mentionn\u00e9e (1998), la protection la plus pouss\u00e9e et la plus explicite de ce droit qui est rattach\u00e9 aux droits proc\u00e9duraux d\u2019information, de participation et d\u2019acc\u00e8s \u00e0 la justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Il ajoute que les sources du droit \u00e0 l\u2019environnement sont multiples et les m\u00e9canismes de la protection sont diverses\u00a0: Droit national, Droit international, Droit de l\u2019Union Europ\u00e9enne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Selon le Juge de Strasbourg, le Droit \u00e0 l\u2019environnement ferait partie int\u00e9grante du droit \u00e0 la vie. Pour les \u00e9tats, il y aurait une obligation positive de prendre des mesures n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 la protection de la vie des personnes relevant de sa juridiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
De plus, il y a des arr\u00eats\u00a0assez fondamentaux sur la question\u00a0:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Les actions pr\u00e9conis\u00e9s pour cette d\u00e9cision, il y a l\u2019information environnementale du citoyen, l\u2019instauration de la r\u00e9glementation mettant en place l\u2019exploitation, la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 et le contr\u00f4le d\u2019activit\u00e9s dangereuses, prenant en compte les risques pour la vie humaine. Mise en place de proc\u00e9dures ad\u00e9quates permettant de d\u00e9terminer les dysfonctionnement intervenus au cours de processus techniques et les fautes commises par les responsables.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ECHR also protects the citizen\u2019s right to participate in the decision-making process. The judge used article 8 of the ECHR on the right to privacy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Les enjeux et probl\u00e8mes li\u00e9s \u00e0 l\u2019environnement se sont d\u00e9velopp\u00e9s dans un contexte de globalisation (+ de 300 conventions\/trait\u00e9s multilat\u00e9raux). Aux cot\u00e9s d\u2019obligations juridiques et majoritairement compos\u00e9s de principes, recommandations, incitations \u00e0 respecter les objectifs communs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le soft law, c\u2019est-\u00e0-dire droit mou voire flou repr\u00e9sente une grande partie du droit international.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le but initial fix\u00e9 par le droit supranational se rapprochait davantage de d\u00e9claration d\u2019objectifs environnementaux \u00e0 atteindre et cette tendance correspond \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9mergence d\u2019un recours accru au droit souple et plus particuli\u00e8rement au droit mou, c\u2019est \u00e0 dire sans imp\u00e9rativit\u00e9 imm\u00e9diate, bas\u00e9e sur l\u2019incitation ou encore sur le droit flou, un droit dont les contours sont volontairement incertains de mani\u00e8re \u00e0 laisser une marge de man\u0153uvre \u00e0 ses destinataires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C\u2019est l\u2019id\u00e9e de gouvernance environnementale\u00a0: \u00e9mergence actuelle d\u2019un droit dit post moderne (un ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne juridique r\u00e9cent) o\u00f9 le droit est le produit du croisement pluridisciplinaire de fluctuations (pluralisme juridique, de diversit\u00e9 d\u2019acteurs dans les processus d\u00e9cisionnels) et de dispositions plus ou moins contraignantes. Le droit de l\u2019environnement constitue un exemple parfait de cette apparition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plusieurs organes jouent un r\u00f4le important dans le champ de l\u2019environnement\u00a0:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
L\u2019AGNU veille \u00e9galement au suivi des r\u00e9sultats de ces grandes conf\u00e9rences, exemple d\u2019\u00e9l\u00e9ments du suivi de la conf\u00e9rence de Rio \u00a0:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Autres grandes conf\u00e9rences des NU qui ont abord\u00e9 des questions environnementales\u00a0: exemple la d\u00e9claration du mill\u00e9naire (8\/09\/2000) comportait des objectifs environnementaux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plus r\u00e9cemment on a des objectifs mondiaux de d\u00e9veloppement durable qui sont une composante importante de l\u2019agenda du d\u00e9veloppement dans l\u2019horizon 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Il est un peu con\u00e7u comme un catalyseur de l\u2019action internationale dans le domaine de l\u2019environnement et \u00e0 cette fin, le PNUE est amen\u00e9 \u00e0 collaborer avec de nombreuses parties prenantes dont des organes des NU, des organes des organisations internationales des gouvernements nationaux mais \u00e9galement des associations, ONG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
La communaut\u00e9 internationale a pris peu \u00e0 peu conscience des cons\u00e9quences que la pauvret\u00e9 pouvait avoir sur l\u2019\u00e9mergence de menace \u00e0 la paix et \u00e0 la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 internationale. Ce que la promotion durable pouvait contribuer \u00e0 pr\u00e9venir les conflits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elle poss\u00e8de une comp\u00e9tence g\u00e9n\u00e9rale pour trancher les diff\u00e9rends internationaux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Constitution d\u2019une chambre sp\u00e9ciale en charge des questions environnementaux dans les ann\u00e9es 90 (peu apr\u00e8s sa saisine par la Hongrie et la Slovaquie l\u2019affaire du barrage sur la Danube). cETTE chambre n\u2019a jamais r\u00e9ellement \u00e9t\u00e9 utilis\u00e9e mais la Cour connait un nombre assez important en elle-m\u00eame d\u2019affaires environnementales. Elle a eu \u00e0 traiter effectivement de l\u2019affaire sur le barrage du Danube, et a rendu un arr\u00eat sur l\u2019affaire des Usines de P\u00e2te \u00e0 papier sur le fleuve Uruguay. C\u2019\u00e9tait une affaire Argentine contre Uruguay le 1 avril 2010. L\u2019ensemble des \u00e9l\u00e9ments montrent que la CIJ a un r\u00f4le important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a des institutions sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9es des NU\u00a0:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
L\u2019UNESCO intervient en mati\u00e8re environnementale principalement en vertu de ses missions de recherche et de diffusion des savoirs en sciences exactes et naturelles. Parce qu\u2019elle a effectivement l\u2019acc\u00e8s \u00e0 la culture et au droit \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9ducation qui sont des droits importants qui font partie de cette esp\u00e8ce de package des droits environnementaux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there\u2019s EU law, which is an old law. It dates back to 1957, with the Treaty of Rome, which made no provision for action in environmental matters, since its primary aim was to establish a common market. The first texts relating to the environment were therefore adopted on the basis of Article 100 of the Treaty of Rome. We have the directive of March 20, 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the measures to be taken to protect the air from gases produced by spark-ignition engines fitted to vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le droit europ\u00e9en de l\u2019environnement contient une comp\u00e9tence partag\u00e9e entre l\u2019UE et les Etats membres soumise par cons\u00e9quence au principe de subsidiarit\u00e9 qui implique que dans les domaines qui rel\u00e8vent et qui ne rel\u00e8vent pas de sa comp\u00e9tence exclusive. L\u2019Union intervient dans la mesure o\u00f9 les objectifs de l\u2019action envisag\u00e9e ne peuvent pas \u00eatre atteints de mani\u00e8re suffisante par les Etats membres, mais peuvent \u00eatre mieux en raison des dimensions des effets de l\u2019action envisag\u00e9e au niveau de l\u2019Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a des points faibles en mati\u00e8re de l\u2019UE et de la protection de l\u2019environnement. On a un bon nombre de directive qui tendent \u00e0 dire r\u00e9guler le degr\u00e9 d\u2019harmonisation vers le bas en laissant large pouvoir d\u2019appr\u00e9ciation aux autorit\u00e9s \u00e9tatiques et en permettant une assez grande flexibilit\u00e9 notamment avec le moyen de nombreuses d\u00e9rogations. On voit que l\u2019environnement est au premier rang des domaines d\u2019infraction au droit europ\u00e9en tant au niveau europ\u00e9en qu\u2019au niveau national. Enfin il faut voir que le droit international a des r\u00e9percussion sur la protection juridictionnelle nationale. Lorsqu\u2019on va devant le juge, on peut effectivement s\u2019appuyer sur des \u00e9l\u00e9ments du droit international. C\u2019est ce qui se d\u00e9veloppe plus en plus depuis ces derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es dans une s\u00e9rie d\u2019actions notamment en France, mais aussi dans le reste du monde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In France, we might mention the Affaire du Si\u00e8cle. This is a social phenomenon made up of associations and individual citizens who are taking stock of the French government\u2019s failure to meet international environmental targets. The climate justice Affaire du Si\u00e8cle is a perfect illustration of the notion of justice. Environmental activism in terms of climate justice was born in the 80s. Environmental justice organizations were at the origin of the concept of political ecology, which was subsequently adopted by both academics and governments. Various academic studies have demonstrated that environmental activism, in addition to the prism of awareness it has introduced into human consciousness, is at the origin of the various rules of environmental law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is l\u2019Affaire du si\u00e8cle? It\u2019s a climate justice campaign in France initiated by four associations, namely Fondation pour la Nature et l\u2019Homme, Greenpeace France, Notre Affaire \u00e0 Tous and Oxfam France. It is an action initiated on December 17, 2018 to sue the State for inaction in the fight against global warming. The NGOs have referred the matter to the Paris Administrative Court. They have opted for full litigation, i.e. an action to hold the French state liable for its culpable failings in the fight against climate change. Recourse to the courts is not generally an option ignored by environmental associations. On the contrary, it turns out that environmental litigation is essentially a matter for associations. This observation is linked to two complementary phenomena. On the one hand, NGOs are increasingly seeking to use far more formal legal means in addition to their traditional claims, and on the other, they are gradually drawing conclusions from the lack of binding effectiveness of public information and participation procedures. The case of the century comes in response to this negative answer given by the Minister for Energy Transition. NGOs have made a prior request for compensation to several ministers of the French government and this request made by associations sought \u201ccompensation for their moral prejudice and that of their member and ecological prejudice resulting from the failings of the State. By letter February 15, 2019, it was amply relayed on social networks. The Minister of Ecological Transition and Solidarity responded by rejecting any responsibility on the part of the State. It was a response that encouraged the collective. A summary petition with a supplementary brief was then filed with the Paris Administrative Court. In this action, the NGOs of the sphere of the century sought compensation for their moral prejudice, estimated at a symbolic sum of money. The judge of full litigation pronounces an injunction on the basis of article L 911-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice, so that the judge of full litigation pronounces an injunction against the Prime Minister and the competent ministers to adopt all measures necessary to put an end to the moral prejudice suffered as well as the ecological prejudice. When we look at this contentious action, we can see that it corresponds to the State being held liable for fault as a result of inaction or failure to act.The administrative court found the French state liable for the ecological damage caused by its failure to meet the targets it had set itself for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the judgment condemned the state and rejected the claims of the plaintiff associations for financial compensation for this damage. These four associations were also at the origin of a large case. The Paris Administrative Court recognized the existence of ecological damage, basing its decision on the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The constant rise in the earth\u2019s average global temperature is mainly due to man-made greenhouse gas emissions. If we are to limit global warming, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. greenhouse gas emissions by %45 compared with 2010, and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest. The French government, which has recognized the urgent need to combat climate change and its ability to do so effectively, has chosen to sign up to international commitments and, at national level, to exercise its regulatory powers, in particular by implementing a public policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the national territory, by which it has undertaken to achieve a certain number of objectives in this area by specific and successive deadlines. Based on these international commitments, we are relying on a decision by the administrative court which recognizes France\u2019s responsibility for inaction in the fight against climate change. So we can see that international conventions can have elements which, for some of them, can appear binding and therefore have repercussions before the national judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question: For some time now, we\u2019ve been observing that people are turning to the mechanisms for protecting fundamental rights, but there have been no concrete consequences. Do you think this is likely to change in the near future, given the increasing visibility of climate change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, in any case, we\u2019ve never seen so much action against the state in recent years. It\u2019s nothing new. We saw it in the Affair of the Century. But on the European continent, we\u2019re currently seeing a proliferation of climate litigation initiated against European states, in Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Of course, there are various cases in which the State is made to face up to its responsibilities, and this responsibility can generally be associated with an injunction. In such cases, the judge will issue injunctions against the State, and impose certain timetables, especially in the face of this kind of emergency \u2013 we\u2019re talking about the visibility of climate change. We\u2019ve got some pretty big cases on air pollution. So, we\u2019re faced with an acquired right that\u2019s in the process of changing. We can\u2019t say we\u2019re not dealing with revolutionary law, but that\u2019s how legal revolutions start from the ground up. I believe that national and international judges will lay the foundations for true accountability. Citizen participation in bringing cases before the courts is very important. Civil society and NGOs bring cases before the courts to have an impact and influence on decision-making processes and on any decision that may have an impact on the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question : Certains penseurs comme Noah Harari revendique que le lib\u00e9ralisme qui domine le monde d'aujourd'hui a \u00e9chou\u00e9 dans la question environnementale et ne donne pas l'espoir d'une solution concr\u00e8te pour l'avenir. Est-ce que vous pensez que le lib\u00e9ralisme peut donner une r\u00e9ponse imm\u00e9diate ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liberalism depends on how you look at it. If it\u2019s liberalism that contains the great freedoms, then we can use liberalism as a springboard. Because all these environmental rights are born of a certain liberalism. You have to believe it and say that if it\u2019s economic liberalism, there can be red lights, because environmental law is all about climate and environmental justice. I think that regulated liberalism will undoubtedly do the trick, but not just any liberalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question : Est-ce que le mouvement vert qui a un grand succ\u00e8s r\u00e9cemment dans les plusieurs d\u00e9mocraties europ\u00e9ennes, a un impact sur la protection du droit de l'environnement ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, we\u2019ve had some fairly important decisions. In Bordeaux, for example, we\u2019ve taken some important decisions with the Tree Rights Charter and the adoption in September of a solidarity fare for public transport use. This is important because public transport is an important part of the environment. A system ranging from free travel to reductions of up to %30 for those on the lowest incomes. I think this green movement in France has had a few forays. Grenoble is also historically marked by political ecology. This green wave arriving in other countries like Germany doesn\u2019t have the same conception as the green party in France. There are certain differences of opinion. But we\u2019ll have to wait and see, it\u2019s still early days. We don\u2019t have enough hindsight, but it\u2019s encouraging and a real strength. I hope it will have a positive impact on the protection of environmental law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question : Quelle est la valeur de la proc\u00e9dure sp\u00e9ciale de l'ONU, en particulier du Rapporteur sp\u00e9cial sur les droits de l\u2019homme et l\u2019environnement, pour le d\u00e9veloppement de la conscience environnementale ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an additional element of the UN that helps ensure respect for the environmental values that have emerged from the various conferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question : -\u00c0 votre avis, quel sera le r\u00e9sultat le plus concret de la r\u00e9union Cop26 de Glasgow\u00a0?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m waiting to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n