ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the implications of the Anthropocene for human rights, arguing that anthropogenic global-scale impacts must be understood as raising multiple spatial and temporal implications for inter-human and human-environment connectivity. As implied, but not centrally discussed in the Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment and related work on climate change, an essential element of the response to this requires renewed engagement with collective human interests and rights. Although often overlooked, there are already examples of collective and future-focused provisions in international human rights law that can potentially provide important insights in this regard. To this end, neglected elements of international law are examined, drawing out their potential to furnish better human rights responses to challenges in the Anthropocene. The chapter concludes by considering an attempt to integrate both collective and forward-looking dimensions to change the dimensions of decision-making by public bodies in domestic law in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
