There are two ways of looking at human rights issues in terms of aligning human and natural systems: negative and positive. The negative view asks what is the point of creating a sustainable planet upon which the rights of millions are denied on the basis of gender, religion, ethnic or national origins, or sexual preference?
A more positive approach starts with the frequently stated view that sustainability cannot be achieved without the effective, popular participation of all in decision-making. The real environmental decision-makers are not governments but voters, the same people who also decide on a daily basis how to get rid of garbage, how to transport themselves and how much water to use.
Sustainable progress not only requires broad participation, it requires that individuals and the organizations they form have the right to be consulted in decision-making, the right to the information required to make good decisions, and the right to legal remedies and redress when their health and their environment has been or may be seriously effected. These are the human rights that form the basis of sustainable human and planetary development.
