Eco-justice: A biocentric right-based concept in environmental jurisprudence.

摘要

The rate of environmental change, highly exacerbated by anthropogenic causes, seems to be exceeding the critical rate which the various vulnerable nonhuman lifeforms can evolutionarily respond to. As such the theoretical problem investigated is whether a right-based and life-oriented concept of justice, "Eco-justice," can serve as an alternative foundation for an environmental law that will protect every form of life in its native ecosystem. Granted a satisfactory theory, the practical problem inquired into is whether this protection can be achieved by the recognition of every lifeform's right to "try-to-survive" as the most fundamental right of every living organism within the ecosystem.; The author, employing a methodology that is a mixture of analytical explorative induction and epistemic comparative deduction, contends that any system of justice that can prevent the world's present environmental problems must veer towards protecting life as life. He argues that the best mechanism to this holistic protection of life is a recognition of the right of every organism to-try-to-survive. If this right is given a juristic recognition and thus made enforceable in the court of law, according to the author, much of our environmental problem will be substantially minimized. But this juristic recognition might not be feasible unless there is a system of justice which is, unlike our present anthropocentric system, life-oriented. It is this system the author calls "Eco-justice." He concludes that eco-justice is the most potent and most comprehensive system of justice which can serve as an efficient foundation for any environmental law that will preserve life. This is because eco-justice is imbued with the capacity to protect not only the lifeforms in their entirety but also their ecosystemic interactive interdependencies.; However, an application of the eco-justice, as structured by the author, might create some problems in view not only of the prevalent conception of justice but also of human's idea of private property. The author therefore made some suggestions on how eco-justice can be applied to achieve minimum possible conflicts. These include the setting up of an Eco-justice Tribunal, appointment of "guardian ad litem pro biota," adoption of a special ecosystem management technique, and a reinterpretation of the idea of allodium.