ONE SPECIES, ONE PLANET

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) argues that sustainable development and environmental justice are symbiotically related, asserting that the former cannot be achieved without the latter. The document explores the legal nexus between human rights and the environment, emphasizing the right to a healthy environment, community-based property rights, and procedural rights as essential components for achieving global sustainability and justice.

• Sustainable development is defined as a framework for improving human well-being and environmental management, requiring the integration of social justice, environmental protection, and economic development, while accounting for the interests of future generations and ensuring transparency and public participation.
• Environmental justice is based on five core principles: avoiding disproportionate environmental burdens on vulnerable groups, ensuring equal access to environmental benefits, maintaining transparency and public participation, providing effective remedies for rights violations regardless of the wrongdoer's power, and maintaining environmental protection levels adequate for human health and ecosystem equilibrium.
• The report posits that environmental justice is a fundamental prerequisite and an integral component of sustainable development, meaning the two must be pursued in tandem to achieve results at the ground level where biodiversity and vital resources are located.
• The right to life is argued to implicitly include the right to a healthy environment, as the right to life would otherwise be void if environmental contamination and degradation were permitted.
• Community-Based Property Rights (CBPRs) are proposed as a strategic conceptual tool to help indigenous and local communities gain formal legal recognition of natural resources they manage, with authority deriving from the community rather than the state.
• Procedural rights—including access to information, meaningful participation in decision-making, and access to justice—are essential for the realization of both environmental justice and sustainable development, particularly for marginalized populations in the Global South.
• The report identifies several obstacles to achieving sustainable development and environmental justice, including corporate globalization, market-based strategies, widespread corruption, over-consumption, and enduring prejudices based on skin color, ethnicity, and religion.
• Women often bear a disproportionate burden of environmental degradation, as they are frequently responsible for collecting water and firewood, and are often overlooked in natural resource decision-making processes.
• The report recommends shifting from a market-based approach to a rights-based approach to sustainable development, which emphasizes society's obligation to respond to the inalienable rights of individuals.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2002). ONE SPECIES, ONE PLANET. https://www.ciel.org/Publications/OneSpecies_OnePlanet.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. ONE SPECIES, ONE PLANET. 2002. https://www.ciel.org/Publications/OneSpecies_OnePlanet.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=ONE SPECIES, ONE PLANET |date=October 2002 |url=https://www.ciel.org/Publications/OneSpecies_OnePlanet.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2002one, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{ONE SPECIES, ONE PLANET}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2002}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ciel.org/Publications/OneSpecies_OnePlanet.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }