Our health is strongly influenced by the surrounding environment: air, water, and climate. Therefore, our right to health is also inseparably linked to our right to a healthy environment.
The right to a healthy environment is not expressly mentioned in most international conventions. Usually, it is ‘deduced’ from a person’s right to health or the right to private life. But, this does not mean that it is not a separate right in the national legislation of certain states.
The right to a healthy environment includes:
- an adequate supply of safe and potable water;
- access to basic sanitation;
- the prevention of exposure to harmful substances (e.g., radiation or harmful chemicals)
- the prevention of exposure to noise pollution
- environmental conditions that negatively affect health, etc.
On 28 July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution, recognising the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right.
The Latvian Constitution states in Article 115:
“The State shall protect the right of everyone to live in a benevolent environment by providing information about environmental conditions and by promoting the preservation and improvement of the environment”.
In Latvia, the protection of the environment and its quality is regulated by numerous laws and Cabinet Regulations, the most important of which are the Environmental Protection Law, Law on Pollution, Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, etc.