Literature Review

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges to the fulfilment of children’s rights, making children one of the most vulnerable groups to climate-related impacts and diseases. Children are less equipped to deal with climate-related shocks and stresses. They are more likely to be injured, experience psychological trauma, and suffer health complications due to impacts on water and food security. Consequently, the climate crisis is leading to a child’s rights crisis and is undermining the effective enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), including the best interest of the child (Art. 3), the right to survival and development (Art. 6), the right to be heard (Art. 12), the right to health (Art. 24), the right to an adequate standard of living (Art. 27), among others. Additionally, recognising children’s rights is not overly featured in key international, regional, and national decision-making frameworks related to climate change. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child only receives complaints from children after they have exhausted all channels of redress in their countries, meaning that children have to navigate a lengthy and expensive legal process. Additionally, the CRC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Paris Agreement do not provide child-sensitive complaint mechanisms, and the UNFCCC does not provide for a procedure for people (children included) to seek redress for injury caused by climate change. Despite this, children and young people actively engage in climate activism and are more aware of the intergenerational impact of climate change and its implications for future generations. In youth-led climate litigation, young activists ask states to be held accountable for their lack of action and adopt strong mitigation measures. Children and their representatives advocate for the protection of the rights of future generations, and argue that climate change is an “abdication of one generation’s responsibility to the next, violating the principles of intergenerational equity", a concept that can be defined as the idea that “long-term interests of future generations are taken into due account in the decisions made by the present generation and, thus, the latter does not compromise the former’s ability to meet their own needs”. In summary, with this thesis I intend to analyse the relationship and the interactions between children’s rights and climate change, focusing on youth-led climate litigation and the protection of the rights and interests of future generations and, in doing so, ensure intergenerational equity. To do so, I will try to answer the following research question: “Considering the developments and challenges of children’s rights and climate change, how are children and young people ensuring the protection of the rights of future generations and intergenerational equity through climate litigation?”

Abstract: In the realm of intergenerational justice, green constitutionalism underscores the necessity for present generations to make choices that do not jeopardize the capacity of future generations to fulfill their needs independently. The climate verdict defending the rights of future generations by the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) of March 2021 was a game changer in that regard. For the first time in Germany’s climate litigation, the fundamental rights of future generations were subject to constitutional claim and enforceable. They were no longer just a normative claim. Constitutional courts can be seen as defenders of the fundamental rights of future generations where constitutions include such normative perspectives. While the Court upheld the infringement of the fundamental rights of the adolescent plaintiffs in the future, the representation of not-yet-born generations remains unclear. This article examines how the 2021 German climate verdict and constitutional provisions address the representation and protection of the interests of future generations represented by the plaintiffs concerning climate change on the one hand and discusses the potential of protecting the fundamental rights of not-yet-born future generations. The article considers the implications for intergenerational justice and explores how these legal frameworks provided by the Constitution may contribute to the formulation of sustainable policies aimed at ensuring the long-term well-being of future generations. There is an urgent need to develop an institutional regime where the needs and rights of future generations are being considered and included in decision-making processes.

Background and Aims: Protecting the rights of future generations in exploiting the environment from a jurisprudential and legal point of view, based on religious, moral and legal principles, has always been emphasized, and its purpose is responsible commitments and securing the rights of future generations to benefit from a healthy and sustainable environment which was also analyzed in this article.Materials and Methods: This article is descriptive and analytical. The materials and data are qualitative and data collection was used to collect the materials.Ethical Considerations: The originality of the texts, honesty and trustworthiness have been made.Findings: From the point of view of jurisprudence and religious principles, the preservation of the environment and natural resources has been raised as a moral and religious duty, and the responsibility of the people and the government has been emphasized in this regard. From a legal point of view, the rights of future generations are recognized as a human right, and the people and the government are obliged to create and comply with environmental protection policies and laws and their implementation.Conclusion: From the point of view of each jurisprudential and legal point of view, the people and the government have special responsibilities in the preservation and sustainable management of natural resources and environmental protection. Therefore, special importance has been given to measures that preserve biodiversity, reduce pollution, sustainable management of natural resources, and implement effective policies to guarantee the rights of future generations to use the environment.

The application of sustainable principles in natural resources and environmental law is an essential step in maintaining the sustainability of the planet. The research outlines five key points in this effort. First, the preservation of the environment and natural resources requires wise management to safeguard the ecosystem. Second, social justice and the rights of future generations are important foundations to ensure equitable distribution and protection of the rights of future generations. Third, adjustment to climate change is a priority in dealing with global climate change. Fourth, public participation and openness are elements of democratization and inclusion in environmental decision-making. Lastly, effective enforcement of laws and sanctions is the basis that ensures compliance with environmental regulations. By integrating these principles in law, we can create a solid foundation for maintaining the sustainability of natural resources, protecting the environment, and ensuring a balance between social, economic, and ecological interests. This conclusion confirms that the application of sustainable principles in law is an important step towards a more just, sustainable and caring world for future generations.

With the damage caused by climate change in full swing, a judicial approach through climate change lawsuits is being sought to protect human lives and safety at a time when the international and national response system is insufficient. Due to the influence of climate change lawsuits spreading in Europe, climate change lawsuits have also been filed in Korea. There are many issues in climate change-related lawsuits, including infringement on the rights of future generations, plaintiff eligibility, political issues, due process provisions etc. Additionally, no less important than legal issues, public awareness is emerging as an important issue in climate litigation.

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This thesis examines the Norwegian government’s approach to ensure justice for future generations and clarifies why the current petroleum policies fail to safeguard the rights of future generations. The thesis employs a historical analysis that traces how intergenerational justice has been ensured since the first discovery of petroleum in Norway and discusses whether it is possible to ensure justice between generations without addressing exported petroleum emissions. The thesis finds that the Norwegian government shifted from focusing on a Rawlsian perception of justice by limiting exploration licenses and restricting the production of petroleum to a Utilitarian perception of justice that enabled an increase in petroleum production and a departure from supply-side constraints. The discussion encompasses two aspects drawn from the Norwegian climate lawsuit. The first aspect discussed is how the government safeguards the rights of future generations, as established in the Norwegian Constitution. The second aspect discussed is whether the government should be responsible for exported petroleum emissions. The arguments presented find that, in light of Utilitarian and Rawlsian theory, the government does not sufficiently safeguard the rights of future generations. The present conception of intergenerational justice does not align with the theories employed in this thesis, and the denial of responsibility for exported petroleum emissions is incompatible with both schools of thought. The thesis finds that the government should define the rights that future generations have and implement supply-side climate policies to ensure justice between present and future generations.

This Chapter involves a study on the Rights of Nature (RoN). RoN comprehends the establishment of a set of specific rights, as well as the recognition of a new legal subject (nature) at the national and at the international levels. For example, on the international level, various international forums slowly envision nature as a potential right holder. Even though this has yet to transpire in formulating and adopting an international treaty establishing that, the language of the RoN now commonly appears in different international soft law documents. Latin American jurisdictions have served as inspiration for those documents, since the recognition of RoN in the region has been considered as paradigmatic. However, the regional recognition of nature's rights has not been free of ambiguities, especially when it is considered together with the recognition of another new legal entity: the Future Generations. The interactions between those new right holders in Latin America have been scarcely studied; this contribution seeks to fill that gap.

In this chapter, the rights of future generations and obligations towards future generations in particular in the context of environmental protection in relation to climate change issues will be discussed. As for the relationship between the present generation and future generations, future generations transfer their rights to the present generation, so that their rights are represented by the present generation. Furthermore, the present generation has responsibility or obligations towards future generations. First, the rights of future generations will be discussed and will be explained, from where one can derive these rights. Second, the obligations of states towards future generations will be analysed, in examining climate change litigation, the question why states are obliged to protect the environment for future generations will be treated. Third, by considering legal documents and climate change judgments, the duties of the present generation towards future generations will be discussed.

The protection of the right to a healthy environment differs greatly within the different hu‐ man rights regional systems. Moreover, when it comes to discussing the rights of future generations, complexity increases. This chapter focuses on the Inter-American system and asks whether, in the context of its greening, the Rio Principles and the principles of institutional continuity and temporal non-discrimination could be used as interpretation methods to mainstream the intergenerational rights for a deeper environmental protection. Thus, the chapter clarifies the historical progression of the protection of the right to a healthy environment before the Inter-American system: going from the incompetence of the Court to exert its jurisdiction to an independent analysis of the right to a healthy environment. Despite the largely procedural nature of the discussion, the chapter goes beyond and justifies the possibility of including the protection of environmental rights of future generations from the perspective of substantive rights.

Is it possible to ignore Nature in discussions about future generations? Nature is the ontological and biophysical unit that marks life. Therefore, excluding Nature’s rights means not representing the future. This study proposes the recognition of the ‘rights of Nature’ as a hermeneutic tool to represent and protect the rights of future generations. The proposal is based on three elements. This generation must take great responsibility for safeguarding the ecological conditions that will ensure the stability of the One Earth System. The intertemporal integrity of natural processes is the determining variable of climate control. The qualification of the interdependence between Nature and future generations is coherent with the transformative changes recently invoked by the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report to achieve sustainability.***

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