La Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos reconoce el derecho a un ambiente saludable en reciente opinión consultiva

An issue of particular interest for a country like Peru, which has its most extensive borders in areas of the Amazon that are sensitive to the effects produced by environmental damage, is found in a recent advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Although the Court has previously recognized the existence of a relationship between environmental protection and the enjoyment of other human rights, it has done so only in relation to the territorial rights of indigenous and tribal peoples. A new opinion of the Court, made by a request from Colombia, is the first to recognize an autonomous right to a healthy environment and nations’ extraterritorial responsibility for environmental damages under the American Convention on Human Rights. This new opinion allows for the possibility that a person affected by environmental damage generated in another country, including damage caused by climate change, could present a case before the Court as long as the respondent State has not complied with the obligations presented by the Court.