ACT Greens MLA Jo Clay will move a motion in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday to have the right to a healthy environment included in the ACT Human Right's Act.
Its inclusion would provide another level of protection for the environment when policy was being considered.
Ms Clay said every piece of legislation passed in the ACT has to have a compliance statement saying it's compatible with the Human Rights Act.
The inclusion of the right to a healthy environment would provide incentive to consider the environment and transparency when compliance wasn't met.
Including the right to a healthy environment in the Human Right's Act wouldn't necessarily provide an avenue for individuals or groups to seek compensation if they believed that right had been violated, Ms Clay said.
She said legislation known as a right to a remedy, which was currently before the Justice and Community Safety Committee, would provide that opportunity.
"If we ended up having that right to a remedy, it would actually give more teeth to all of our human rights," she said.
Ms Clay said while the United Nations had passed a resolution that a healthy environment was a human right, no jurisdiction in Australia had enacted it.
"The ACT often leads the way in a lot of social and environmental policy and what we find is when we take a step forward, other states follow," she said.
While the ACT was the first jurisdiction to have a Human Rights Act in 2004, the right to a healthy environment was not included, Ms Clay said.
She said its inclusion would ensure Canberrans have a right to clean air, a safe climate, healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.
"This is essential if we want healthy and sustainably produced food, clean water and a healthy planet", Ms Clay said.
Ms Clay said she believed it would impact proactive government policy in the future.
She said ACT government was currently looking at ways to grow food more sustainably, which would be given greater importance under her proposed change.
"It actually gives you a lot more clout to say, let's make sure we are putting enough resources and dedicating enough land for urban agriculture," she said.
"It's a human right that we have a healthy environment, so let's make sure we're doing that properly."
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The right to a healthy environment was part of The Greens election promises made during the 2020 campaign.
Ms Clay said the bill was well supported amongst her colleagues and she was confident the motion would pass on Thursday.
"I was really happy that we managed to get this into the parliamentary and government agreement and so this is our next stage," Ms Clay said.
