Environmental Justice and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: International and Domestic Legal PerspectivesRoutledge, 2012 M05 16 - 368 pages More than 300 million people in over 70 countries make up the worlds indigenous populations. Yet despite ever-growing pressures on their lands, environment and way of life through outside factors such as climate change and globalization, their rights in these and other respects are still not fully recognized in international law. In this incisive book, Laura Westra deftly reveals the lethal effects that damage to ecological integrity can have on communities. Using examples in national and international case law, she demonstrates how their lack of sufficient legal rights leaves indigenous peoples defenceless, time and again, in the face of governments and businesses who have little effective incentive to consult with them (let alone gain their consent) in going ahead with relocations, mining plans and more. The historical background and current legal instruments are discussed and, through examples from the Americas, Africa, Oceania and the special case of the Arctic, a picture emerges of how things must change if indigenous communities are to survive. It is a warning to us all from the example of those who live most closely in tune with nature and are the first to feel the impact when environmental damage goes unchecked. |
From inside the book
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... traditional territories. They and their lands are also frequently the most directly threatened by the environmental depredations that have occurred, and are continuing to occur at an ever accelerating rate. Laura Westra has sought to ...
... traditional practices. States should recognize and duly support their identity, culture and interest, and enable their effectiveparticipation in the achievement of sustainable development.1 This declaration provides an excellent ...
... traditional way of life' (Shelton, 1994).The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)4 emphasizes the need to protect health and the obligation of state parties to fight both malnutrition and disease and to take into consideration ...
... traditional diets exposes them unduly to chemicals accumulated in the food chain. Europe and other developed countries have a clear responsibility for the global body burden of chemicals. This raises issues of equity and global ...
... traditional First Nations knowledge and belief. In contrast, to ignore the evidence of the harm perpetrated on First Nations by current practices that the Ontario and Canadian governments ought to regulate, or rather alter or eliminate ...
Contents
PART TWO Selected Examples from Domestic and International Case Law | 69 |
Principles and Reality | 161 |
PART FOUR Some Modest Proposals for Global Governance | 217 |
Appendices | 275 |
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations | 311 |
List of Cases | 313 |
List of Documents | 317 |
Bibliography | 323 |
Index | 341 |
Other editions - View all
Environmental Justice and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: International ... Laura Westra No preview available - 2013 |