Locus Standi: a Conundrum in Environmental Rights Protection
LOCUS STANDI – A CONUNDRUM IN ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS PROTECTION: WILL THE ANSWER COME FROM THE SUPREME COURT OR CONSTITUTION MAKING PROCESS?
‗A planet in peril‘ this sentiment arose after former U.S Vice-President Albert Gore Jnr advocated for the cause of climate change in his acclaimed biography ‗An inconvenient Truth‘. The words ‗a planet in peril‘ echo resoundingly across the pillars of this earth and everywhere peoples are suddenly faced with the realization that the protection of the environment must form a cornerstone of national and even global policy. It is with this ambition in mind that over the years the world‗s leaders have gathered in the metropolis of the world - Stockholm in 1982, Rio in 1992 and more recently Copenhagen in 2009 to lay out the path for saving our ailing planet. Whilst these conventions have contributed enormously to the cause of environmental protection, Zimbabwe, one feels, has lagged behind in terms of legislative initiative.
One‘s arena of particular interest is that of locus standi - the ability of an individual to use the law as a remedy to enforce the right to a clean and safe environment. This article will focus on the ability or lack of it thereof for private citizens to mount litigation to protect the environment and will aim to show how the stringent provisions existing in our law have proved to be a stumbling block in the enforcement of environmental rights. After an assessment of this, one will point out the possible remedies to this problem. One will look at the possibility that the Supreme Court may do away with the requirements of locus standi as they currently stand or take it upon itself to extend the right to life provision in section 12 of the current constitution to encompass environmental rights. Another solution which will be taken up is the ability of the ongoing constitution making process to include environmental rights in the constitution making them justiciable, as well as an exhibition of the pros of
‗A planet in peril‘ this sentiment arose after former U.S Vice-President Albert Gore Jnr advocated for the cause of climate change in his acclaimed biography ‗An inconvenient Truth‘. The words ‗a planet in peril‘ echo resoundingly across the pillars of this earth and everywhere peoples are suddenly faced with the realization that the protection of the environment must form a cornerstone of national and even global policy. It is with this ambition in mind that over the years the world‗s leaders have gathered in the metropolis of the world - Stockholm in 1982, Rio in 1992 and more recently Copenhagen in 2009 to lay out the path for saving our ailing planet. Whilst these conventions have contributed enormously to the cause of environmental protection, Zimbabwe, one feels, has lagged behind in terms of legislative initiative.
One‘s arena of particular interest is that of locus standi - the ability of an individual to use the law as a remedy to enforce the right to a clean and safe environment. This article will focus on the ability or lack of it thereof for private citizens to mount litigation to protect the environment and will aim to show how the stringent provisions existing in our law have proved to be a stumbling block in the enforcement of environmental rights. After an assessment of this, one will point out the possible remedies to this problem. One will look at the possibility that the Supreme Court may do away with the requirements of locus standi as they currently stand or take it upon itself to extend the right to life provision in section 12 of the current constitution to encompass environmental rights. Another solution which will be taken up is the ability of the ongoing constitution making process to include environmental rights in the constitution making them justiciable, as well as an exhibition of the pros of