Around the world, the connection between human rights and a healthy environment is becoming ever more obvious — as communities are harmed by mining projects, as people are displaced by climate change, and as cities and towns are devastated by extreme weather.
That’s why the historic decision of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in March was such a big deal:
For the first time, the Court recognized the right to a healthy environment as fundamental to human existence. Further, it ruled that countries have a duty to respect these rights — for current and future generations, both within and outside their own borders.
This is groundbreaking.
Courts around the world look to precedents set by the Inter-American Court, which means the Court’s opinion will have impacts far beyond the Americas.
For example, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project currently under construction in Colon, Panama’s second largest city, highlights the vital connection between a healthy environment and human rights. This project will have long-term, negative impacts not only on local people, but also people throughout Central America and around the world.
Last fall, I visited the construction site of the LNG terminal in Colon to hear from local partners and community members about their concerns around this dangerous project. As we traversed traffic in this busy section of town, we experienced firsthand one of their major fears: proximity.
The site of the LNG terminal threatens not only the immediate surrounding environment, but also the health and safety of thousands of people living and working in this area. The onshore infrastructure includes a dock for tankers, regasification plant, storage tank, gas pipelines, and power plant. Local communities say they have not been properly informed or consulted about the project nor do they have a full understanding about the hazardous materials that may be involved.
Just around the bay from the LNG plant is Punta Galeta, a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute working to conserve and protect the local ecosystem, including sensitive mangroves and coral reefs that are already impacted by mega-development that abounds in Colon. Further jeopardizing these marine ecosystems, the outdated technology being used in the LNG project will use massive amounts of seawater to re-gasify the liquefied natural gas and cool the power plant, using the equivalent of ten Olympic size swimming pools of water every hour.
And LNG tankers are among the highest emitters of greenhouse gases, so the project would also undermine global efforts to combat the climate crisis.
Now more than ever, Central American and Caribbean nations are expanding development projects to leverage and integrate each other’s infrastructure needs. As economic opportunities expand across countries, so too do the environmental and health impacts. The Colon LNG terminal would be the first in Central America and the biggest power plant in the region. Its completion would lock Central America and the Caribbean into fossil fuel dependence – import/export, consumption, transport, use, and distribution and its related health and environmental impacts – for the foreseeable future. The precedent set by the Inter-American Court gives new tools and legal arguments to advocates working to stop this dangerous project.
We commend the Inter-American Court’s decision, and we look forward to using it to bolster efforts from our partners to defend the right to a healthy environment in the Americas, and beyond.
By Carla García Zendejas
Director, People, Land, & Resources
Posted March 7, 2018