Límites constitucionales y estándares internacionales del derecho a un ambiente sano frente al extractivismo
Constitutional boundaries and international standards for the right to a healthy environment in the face of extractivismBarra lateral del artículo
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El derecho a un ambiente saludable confronta cada vez más con las políticas extractivas en América Latina. Debido a esto, el objetivo de la investigación fue analizar los límites constitucionales y los estándares internacionales de protección que condicionan la legitimidad de las políticas extractivas frente al derecho a un ambiente sano. El estudio tuvo un enfoque cualitativo y documental, se examinaron normativa constitucional, jurisprudencia interamericana y literatura académica. Los resultados evidencian que el derecho a un ambiente sano opera como límite material al poder estatal, los principios de prevención, precaución, progresividad y no regresión son barreras jurídicas frente al debilitamiento regulatorio, y las garantías de participación y consulta previa condicionan la validez constitucional de las decisiones extractivas. Se concluye que, la legitimidad de las políticas extractivas depende de su compatibilidad con el marco normativo ambiental, lo cual exige una gobernanza que subordine la racionalidad económica a la protección del ambiente.
The right to a healthy environment increasingly conflicts with extractive policies in Latin America. Consequently, the objective of this research was to analyze the constitutional limits and international protection standards that condition the legitimacy of extractive policies vis-à-vis the right to a healthy environment. The study employed a qualitative and documentary approach, examining constitutional norms, Inter-American case law, and academic literature. The results demonstrate that the right to a healthy environment operates as a substantive limit to state power; the principles of prevention, precaution, progressivity, and non-regression serve as legal barriers against regulatory weakening; and the guarantees of participation and prior consultation condition the constitutional validity of extractive decisions. It is concluded that the legitimacy of extractive policies depends on their compatibility with the environmental legal framework, which demands a form of governance that subordinates economic rationality to environmental protection.
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