Human Rights and Environmental Sustainability (Hardcover)

`Human rights and environmental sustainability have virtually unassailable legitimacy as objectives in the contemporary world. But do they work with or against each other? In this forensic dissection of the relationship between the two concepts, Kerri Woods raises the analytical bar to new heights. The result is a striking combination of intellectual sophistication and political sensitivity - not to be missed.' - Andrew Dobson, Keele University, UK Human Rights and Environmental Sustainability challenges the assumed harmony between human rights norms and the demands of environmental sustainability, by addressing conceptual, normative, and political questions surrounding the interaction between the two. What is gained and lost by environmental theorists and activists adopting the language and institutions of human rights? Is there coherence or tension between the values of human rights and environmental sustainability? Is the idea of environmental human rights plausible, and defensible? Whereas previous studies have considered the interface between human rights and environmental sustainability on an empirical level, this pioneering book engages the theoretical and philosophical issues at stake. Given the significant environmental challenges we face, and the dominance of human rights as a normative framework, these concerns demand our attention. This timely work will appeal to scholars in the fields of environmental politics, philosophy, human rights theory and global or international ethics, as well as postgraduate students in environmental politics, and philosophy. Postgraduate students in human rights - particularly human rights theory - global or international ethics, and scholars working in environmental law or human rights law will also find this book invaluable.