Right against adverse effects of climate change part of rights to life, equality: SC

• In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has expanded the scope of Articles 14 and 21 to include the “right against the adverse effects of climate change.
What court has said :
• Article 48A of the Constitution provides that the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.
• Clause (g) of Article 51A stipulates that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures. Although these are not justifiable provisions of the Constitution, they are indications that the Constitution recognizes the importance of the natural world.
• The importance of the environment, as indicated by these provisions, becomes a right in other parts of the Constitution.
• Article 21 recognises the right to life and personal liberty while Article 14 indicates that all persons shall have equality before law and the equal protection of laws.
• These Articles are important sources of the right to a clean environment and the right against the adverse effects of climate change.
• Without a clean environment which is stable and unimpacted by the vagaries of climate change, the right to life is not fully realised.
• The right to health (which is a part of the right to life under Article 21) is impacted due to factors such as air pollution, shifts in vector-borne diseases, rising temperatures, droughts and shortages in food supplies due to crop failure.
• The inability of underserved communities to adapt to climate change or cope with its effects violates the right to life (Article 21) as well as the right to equality (Article 14).

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