Your human right to a healthy environment protects Canberra’s environment now and in the future.
17 March 2025
In brief:
- The ACT’s human rights law now includes the right to a healthy environment.
- This article explains this legal right.
The ACT’s human rights law now includes the right to a healthy environment.
It protects the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The new right includes six elements that relate to human needs:
- clean air
- a safe climate
- access to safe water and adequate sanitation
- healthy and sustainably produced food
- non-toxic environments to live, work, study and play
- healthy biodiversity and eco-systems.
The right to a healthy environment also protects your rights to:
- access information about environmental harms
- participate in environmental decisions
- access justice.
Protecting the environment has community benefits now and in the future. These include:
- better health outcomes
- better ecosystems for current and future generations
- more support for vulnerable groups who are most at risk of environmental harm.
The right also protects against discrimination due to environmental harm.
This could be indirect discrimination. An example would be building a hazardous facility near a disadvantaged community.
How the ACT protects your rights
The ACT Government always considers human rights when it makes new laws.
When introducing a new law, there must be a written statement stating whether the law is consistent with human rights.
This statement considers how the law might impact the right to a healthy environment.
ACT Government projects and policies must consider the right to a healthy environment.
They must assess any potential impacts on human rights.
These impacts include any effects on the land and water for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They have a connection to the land and are its traditional custodians.
Part of the right to a healthy environment is ensuring access to the land and waterways for:
- traditional practices such as fishing or hunting
- ceremonies
- heritage protection.
Read more about the new right on the ACT Government website.
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