II. THE ORIGINS OF THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT: FROM THE STOCKHOLM CONFERENCE TO CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL LAW The recognition of the right to a healthy environment is rooted in a specific historical moment: the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 19725. This event marked the first true international summit where the environmental issue was no longer framed as a purely technical-scientific problem, but as a constitutive dimension of fundamental human rights. At the end of the proceedings, the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment was adopted—a programmatic document containing 26 fundamental principles for environmental protection6. Although it is a soft law instrument, i.e., not legally binding, the Declaration marked the beginning of a new conceptual paradigm that would profoundly influence the evolution of international law. Principle 1 of the Stockholm Declaration holds particular historical and doctrinal significance, solemnly affirming that “Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being.”7 This was the first time in the history of international law that a direct and inseparable link between environmental quality and human dignity was established, introducing the revolutionary idea that a healthy environment is a necessary precondition for the exercise of human dignity. The innovative character of this provision lies in its ability to connect two traditionally separate spheres: the ecological and the anthropocentric. For the first time, environmental protection was not conceived as a value in itself, but as a functional condition for the realization of fundamental human rights. This approach, referred to in scholarship as “enlightened anthropocentrism,”8 transcends both traditional anthropocentrism and radical ecocentrism, offering 5 Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 5-16 June 1972, UN Doc. A/CONF.48/14/Rev.1. 6 Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 16 giugno 1972, UN Doc. A/CONF.48/14/Rev.1. 7 Principle 1, Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, cit. 8 J.H. KNOX, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, UN Doc. A/HRC/37/59, 24 gennaio 2018, disponibile su https:// www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc3759-report-special-rapporteur-issue-human-rights-obligations. 129 THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT AS A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT
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