Most of the world’s population live in countries whose constitutions protect environmental rights in one way or another and, increasingly, courts throughout the globe are implementing these provisions to advance both environmental and human rights. This Article examines some of the most innovative ways constitutional courts have sought to vindicate these rights to better protect nature and natural resources. It describes how the limitations on human rights law impacts the protection of natural resources and suggests that constitutional law can help to fill some of these gaps, creating new opportunities for vindication of environmental and human rights. The Article then explores two innovations in constitutional adjudication—primarily from South America and the Indian sub-continent—that have further expanded opportunities for protection of the environment and of natural resources, first, by expanding the range of people who can bring claims based on environmental human rights, and second, by extending juridical personhood to nature itself. As environmental constitutionalism has evolved and become interwoven into the fabric of judicial decision-making, courts have adapted their constitutional doctrines to advance environmentally protective ends.
