APPRAISING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE RIGHTS OF FUTURE GENERATIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The examination of the intersection between intergenerational equity, sustainable development, and the rights of future generations within the Nigerian legal framework is imperative. Intergenerational equity requires that the use of resources by the present generation does not compromise the ability of succeeding generations to satisfy their own needs. The essence of intergenerational equity and sustainable development is to balance the needs of the present and the future generations. Though, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) of 1948 did not expressly provide for environmental protection and sustainable development but it is implied in its provisions on right to life, health and adequate standard of living for all.  Express determination to protect the environmental interests of both the present and future generations was first brought to the world focus in the 1987 Brundtland Report and the Rio Declarations of 1992 requiring the need to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of the present environmental abuse. It is against this background, that the authors analysed and exposed the level of environmental abuse in Nigeria which is in contradistinction with the global commitment to ensure a sustainable future. The paper therefore maintained strict enforcement of both local and international legal frameworks on sustainable development goals.