环境权论——人权发展历史分期的视角

Environmental Rights: Stages of Development in Human Rights

人权发展的历史经过了初创期、发展期和升华期 ,三个时期的核心性人权分别是自由权、生存权和环境权。自由权的实现要求国家履行消极不妨碍的义务 ,生存权的实现要求国家或社会积极地提供保障 ,而环境权是自得权 ,是保有和维护适宜人类生存繁衍的自然环境的人类权利。这项人权的权利主体是人类 ,义务主体也是人类 ,是人类的分体及这些分体的各种形式的组合。它的实现以人类履行自负的义务为条件。学者们所讨论的国家环境权其实是国家对外的主权和对内的环境管理权 ;而所谓“公民环境权”实际上是享受、使用生产生活环境的民事、行政等权利和参与与环境有关的公共事务管理的公民权利 ,而不是环境危机时代新生的属于升华期人权的人类环境权。

Human rights develop through three stages: elementary, developmental and transcendent, the focal concerns of which are, respectively, the right to freedom, the right to survival and environmental rights. The right of freedom requires the state to fulfill a negative obligation, i.e., non-interference; the right of survival requires the state and/or society actively to provide security; while the right of environment is an inherent right that maintains a natural environment for human survival and development. Humans—both in isolation and combined into groups—enjoy rights and at the same time bear obligation under them. Their realization depends on people fulfilling their obligations. A state's right to environment means its sovereignty and power to manage its territory's environment, while that of citizens means citizens' civil and administrative rights to enjoy and use their productive and living environment, and to participate the management of public affairs in relation to it. A distinction must be made between these rights and the human right to environment as a new development of human rights in its transcendent stage in response to a time of environmental crisis.