Fighting on the Environmental Rights Front: the Eternal Return of Radicality?

Radicality is certainly not new to Europe. The fight of a few environmental activists in European countries was already radical decades ago. That bold and well-informed minority was then the vanguard of what would later arrive in the form of laws and principles. That radicality ended for many at the exact limit set by democratic penal codes. Born due to the lack of response of public powers to the demands for environmental protection, radicality evolved as activism was successful according to the gradual acceptance —and integration— by political actors of the views of civil society actors. New tools of participation and protection could emerge. The collective belief in values progressively positivised in laws, laying the foundations for administrative and judicial protection in environmental matters.
Today, the fight for the effective protection of every person's right to a healthy environment opens new dimensions of radicality. In this context, better governance at the first stage of decision making and, ultimately, the unrestricted access to environmental, criminal and administrative justice constitute “radical” forms of action that could have a significant impact on environmental democracy.