Direito em Movimento - Volume 19 - Número 1 - 1º semestre - 2021

97 Direito em Movimento, Rio de Janeiro, v. 19 - n. 1, p. 81-107, 1º sem. 2021 ARTIGOS natural environment on the quality of human life, and none yet link dignity and sustainability. Courts sometimes turn to effects on human dignity as a basis for re- cognizing a right to live in a healthy environment. One of the earliest cases to connect dignity and environmental harm is from Nigeria. In Gbemre v. Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited and Others , the lower court held that gas flaring violated the petitioners’ constitutional ‘right to respect for their lives and dignity of their persons and to enjoy the best at- tainable state of physical and mental health as well as [the] right to a gene- ral satisfactory environment favourable to their development’ and that the gas flaring activities formed ‘a violation of their said fundamental rights to life and dignity of human person and to a healthy life in a healthy environ- ment.’ 47 Although a declaratory judgment without remedy or continuing judicial oversight, the case signals a growing appreciation of the connection between dignity and environmental conditions. Human dignity also informs conversations about the disproportionate effects of environmental policies on the most vulnerable, what is generally known as ‘environmental justice.’ (DALY and MAY, 2019, p. 177-194) All of these developments in turn inform the role that human dignity can play in shaping narratives about implementing the SDGs. 5 DIGNITY AND THE SDGS The SDGs – the embodiment of sustainability in the international legal order – are designed to advance human dignity, something reflected in the very text of the SDGs.The SDGs ‘envisage a world of universal res- pect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination; of respect for race, ethnicity and cultural diversity; and of equal opportunity permitting the full realization of human potential and contributing to shared prosperity.’ (DALY and MAY, 2019) Moreover, 47 Gbemre v. Shell Petroleum Dev Corp & the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (2005). See, generally, James R. May and Tiwajopelo O. Dayo, ‘Dignity and Environmental Justice in Nigeria: The Case of Gbemre v. Shell’, 25 Widener Law Review (2019) 269-284.