Equality and Environmental Protection: A Constitutional Approach in the Navarro Case

Abstract

Environmental protection and social justice are often in tension and not infrequently can have contradictory and overlapping objectives. The “Navarro” Case, of the Colombian Constitutional Court, illustrates these tensions and serves as an example of what has been referred to as an environmental justice case or, in this particular case, an “environmental justice case in reverse”. Privileging an environmental justice and a socio-legal approach, the article presents the facts of this interesting case along with an analysis in which it will be argued that environmental policy controversies cannot be separated from power, social and economic rights issues. Environmental regulations should guarantee that individual and social rights are not unreasonable affected, must take into account elements of power, equality and social justice and include the participation of disadvantaged groups in the decisions and implementation of procedures and regulations. The “Navarro” case demonstrates that actions taken to ensure environmental protection are inseparable from social justice and equality.