Using human rights law to protect New Zealand's natural environment | Catherine Iorns | TEDxTauranga

100% Clean and Green - that's the Pure tourism campaign, but is it a convenient screen for a host of evils currently afflicting our natural environment?

Using New Zealand’s waterways to illustrate her argument that this can no longer be accepted as the status quo, Catherine demonstrates how pollution of our streams has potentially lethal issues for the health of all who use this water.

Catherine's solution is to provide for environmental protection in our human rights legislation. A line in the Bill of Rights or Human Rights Act would allow the protection of the environment be discussed in the national courts. It could compel a person, company or organisation to take active measures to ensure we live in a heathy, sustainable country .
It should be a Human Right to live in a society or environment that is not detrimental to our health. However, New Zealanders do not have legal protection at any level in our consitution to enforce this fundamental necessity.
Catherine Iorns is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at Victoria University of Wellington, where she researches, writes and teaches on environmental law, human rights, and statutory interpretation.

Ms Iorns is also a national board member of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, of 350 Aotearoa, and of Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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