Environmental Protection In National Constitutions - Article 20a Of The German Grundgesetz (Constitution) As An Example

Abstract

Since the so-called environmental crisis came to the attention of the general public and politicians at the beginning of the 1970s, there have been repeated calls for the protection of the environment to be „enshrined” in national constitutions. For a long time, the demand for a special environmental constitutional right was met with unanimous rejection. But proposals for a so-called national objective of „environmental protection” were also heavily criticised. Today, however, everyone agrees that environmental protection is an extremely important task of the state. With its Article 20a, the German Grundgesetz (GG) has raised this to constitutional level. Article 20a of the Grundgesetz can serve as an example for other national constitutions.