‘Climate change is already having a major impact on a wide range of human rights and could have a cataclysmic impact in the future unless ambitious actions are undertaken immediately.’ – Christina Voigt

In light of an ever-growing awareness of the connection between climate change and its threat to human rights, this book on Human Rights and the Planet is very timely. When climate litigation cases are at an all-time high – the Portuguese Youth and Senior Women for Climate Protection cases are both discussed in the book – there is a pressing need for jurisprudence to understand the link between climate change and human rights. Moreover, with the recent recognition of the right to a healthy environment, in the UN General Assembly, and the General Assembly's later resolution to request the International Court of Justice to provide an advisory opinion on the legal obligations of states regarding climate change, it is high time that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) analysed its own obligations in this field.

Th is Special Issue (SI) of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment is based on the proceedings of the international conference ‘Human Rights for the Planet’, held in October 2020 at the ECtHR in Strasbourg. The conference aimed to address the challenges posed by climate change, loss of biodiversity, depletion of natural resources and pollution, by exploring the intersection of European human rights law and environmental protection. This SI highlights the key themes and arguments which emerged from the Strasbourg conference.

The SI begins with a conversation between Robert Spano, the President of the ECtHR, and Philippe Sands, a renowned lawyer in international and environmental law. Their discussion revolves around the harmonious interpretation of human rights and environmental law, the dynamic nature of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the inherent anthropogenic nature of the ECtHR. The discussion also focuses on the challenges facing the European Court in light of climate change litigation and the need to address environmental degradation.

The subsequent two articles in the SI challenge the anthropocentric focus of the ECtHR's jurisprudence, and argue for a paradigm shift in order to address the current biodiversity and climate emergencies.