Elements for an environmental Neoconstitucionalism

Abstract

In the face of the assertion that Political Constitutions do not require changes, modifications or reforms and that the longer the constitutional text remains untouched, this means its strength and submission to the passage of time, we believe that in contemporary times and on the occasion of the great and serious transformations in the visions of the world and life that cause damage, deterioration and contamination, significant advances are required with respect to unrestricted respect for rights and the protection of subjects, not only in a certain nation State, but on the entire Planet Earth. Contemporary problems and conflicts require constitutionalizing a series of new rights and the protection of new subjects, which respond to the demands for material and effective protection against serious environmental impacts, which affect not only a few human beings at the local, regional or national level, but also impact the international, continental and global sphere. Given that environmental provisions have not always been part of constitutional mandates, the norm of norms and the developments made of it by constitutional courts can contribute to the protection of the environment and environmental rights by guiding new legal forms and practices. This discussion attempts to specify the main environmental orientations that should be in the supreme norm, but also to highlight its deficit and, in particular, to insist on the normative regressions that may indicate that today the globe is experiencing an 'anti-environmental' or grey and polluting 'state of affairs' due to the number of extractive and productive norms, policies and practices contrary to the necessary mandate of environmental protection and environmental rights. This paper consists of three components, which refer, firstly, to the need for explicit incorporation of environmental rights in constitutional texts; secondly, to overcome the inadequacies associated with the protection of ecosystems for the benefit of human beings that have been formulated by 'ecological' constitutions, the transition to an environmental contract is required; Third, some central elements of what an Environmental Constitution and a State form that responds to such challenges could be and contain, based on the proposal of environmental rights as a horizon of constitutional meaning for times of serious crisis.