The right to a healthy environment has been the subject of extensive philosophical debates that revolve around a key question: Should rights to clean air, water, and soil be entrenched in law, in the constitutions of democratic states?

In The Environmental Rights Revolution, David Boyd, one of Canada's leading environmental lawyers, answers this question by moving beyond theoretical debate to measure the practical effects of enshrining the right to a healthy environment in constitutions. His analysis of 193 constitutions and the laws and court decisions of more than 100...

Palila v Hawaii. New Zealand s Te Urewera Act. Sierra Club v Disney. These legal phrases hardly sound like the makings of a revolution. But beyond the headlines portending environmental catastrophes, a movement of immense import has been building in courtrooms, legislatures, and communities across the globe. Cultures and laws are transforming to provide a powerful new approach to protecting the planet and the species with whom we share it.

In Argentina, courts have ordered chimpanzees and orangutans to be freed from captivity in zoos, because these great apes have...