Environmental Rights Research Centre

The Environmental Rights Research Centre (ERRC) of the Academy aims to conduct research activities on:

• the interrelationship between human rights and environmental protection, more specifically to which extent human right can contribute to a) the solution of global environmental problems (such as climate change or freshwater scarcity) and b) the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• the potential of “the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” to secure environmental protection and sustainability;
• scope of human right treaties, such as the ECHR, to be used as an efficient tool in terms of securing protection of individuals against environmental harm and for attaining higher standards of environmental protection. 

in addition, scope of the ECHR to offer a) protection of individuals against harms arising from climate change and b)  mechanism for contribution to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); 

in addition, scope of the principle of proportionality under the ECHR to be used as a tool of achievement of patterns of sustainable development, namely balancing certain rights (for example, the right guaranteed by the first paragraph of Article 8) and collective economic interests (for example, “the economic well-being of the country” provided under the second paragraph of Article 8) in environmental cases. 

• potential of the three procedural environmental rights under the Aarhus Convention to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• the interrelationship between human rights and sustainable development and relevance of elaboration of “the right to sustainable development”. In this context, the content of the right to development under international law will be also examined.   

The Research Centre will publish Academy’s quarterly international  scholarly journal (in Georgian and English) – “Environmental Rights”;

The Research Centre will promote in Georgia awareness-raising on the human rights implications of environmental problems, as well as the environmental implications of human rights problems;

The Research Centre will establish a library (material and digital combined) in the field of environmental rights, comprising thematic books, textbooks, scholarly articles, also masters and PhD theses,  in various languages.