a positive obligation to prevent breaches of rights contained in the Bill of Rights including the right to life.150 F. Use of legislation to override environmental goals and human rights At times Parliaments legislate or Ministers exercise discretion to override environmental protection measures. Australia and Malaysia reported instances where their respective federal or state governments had passed special legislation or utilised Ministerial discretions to override environmental laws for a particular project, by, for example, decreasing pollution checks and standards for a project, or exempting a region from environmental restrictions. 151 How does this information link with the recommendations? • Most APF Member States have legislation setting pollution standards and pollution controls. These lay important foundations for recognising the environment is important and affects people’s quality of life. NHRIs may use this broader protection of the environment to create opportunities for lobbying and creating a ‘culture’ supportive of a right to an environment of a particular quality: recommendations 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3. • Robust administrative law regimes provide significant advances in the recognition and implementation of environmental rights. Several members’ states have strong administrative law regimes which establish the three basic procedural rights – access to information, participation, and access to justice/remedies. NHRIs should look to the experiences of their neighbours in considering advocacy on such measures: recommendations 3.2, 3.3. • Mechanisms that permit the overriding of environmental protection laws should be appropriately restricted to ensure that the exercise of such powers occurs in a transparent manner and within established and acceptable boundaries: recommendations 3.3, 3.4. Have courts in APF Member States recognised a right to environment or related rights? A. Substantive environmental rights Some countries have comprehensive and expansive case law on the interpretation and application of international environmental law principles and environmental rights (the Philippines and India). In other countries, the courts have used cases relating to environmental issues to comment on how environmental harms may affect other rights (Malaysia, Republic of Korea, and Thailand). In other countries, courts are yet to recognise a right to environment or the link with existing human rights, or this information was not provided in NHRIs responses. The Indian Supreme Court has recognised that sustainable development, the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, and the principle of intergenerational equity, are part of Indian environmental law. At times, the Supreme Court has also ordered state courts to constitute special ‘Green Benches’ to decide environmental matters. 150 151 New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 ss 3 and 8. Ibid 103, 140. - 42 -