O DIREITO (HUMANO) À ÁGUA POTÁVEL NO QUADRO DO TRIPÉ DA SUSTENTABILIDADE

Abstract

The human right to drinking water is of concern to the international community, appearing among the goals of the sustainable development agendas of the United Nations: the Millennium Summit (MDG 07) and Agenda 2030 (SDG 06). The recognition of the human right to water was guided by the anthropocentric paradigm based on the interpretation of articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, designing it as a second generation right, in the sense of obliging States to provide water available, safe and accessible, for consumption by the inhabitants of their territories. It so happens that the global water crisis presents challenges for the right to drinking water, which will require measures other than the simple solitary action of the States in the domestic sphere to overcome. The research problem, therefore, aims to answer the question of what is the legal configuration of the human right to drinking water under the sustainability paradigm and under an ecocentric perspective? Therefore, its specific objectives are: i) to study the concepts of sustainable development and sustainability; ii) examine these concepts and their impact on the right to water in the main thematic international conferences; iii) analyze the global water crisis, as well as the process of historical affirmation of the human right to drinking water and iv) investigate the implications of sustainability and the ecocentric paradigm on the regime of the right to drinking water. In order to achieve those objectives and answer the study's questioning, the post-positivist epistemological paradigm is adopted, as well as the theoretical and methodological focus is dogmatic and axiological, the method is deductive, the research is descriptive and exploratory with critical analysis, documentary and bibliographic. In conclusion, it is understood that the concept of sustainability is not to be confused with that of sustainable development, appearing as the path and the other as the projection horizon for human actions aimed at establishing a relationship with nature that enables the full realization of human rights. The anthropocentric paradigm was not successful in curbing man's destructive relationship with nature. The recognition of the right to drinking water came from an anthropocentric perspective, placing it as a second generation right, under the strong influence of “soft law” norms. The global water crisis presents challenges to the right to drinking water, which demands international cooperation from States, the engagement of new subjects in the line of responsibility, notably individuals and companies, in addition to the necessary recognition of the right to non-human animals and the elements of nature. With this, the right to drinking water is positioned as a right of solidarity, presenting projections or dimensions in the economic, social and environmental field, as a way to promote the pillars of sustainable development, in addition to being extended to non-human animals and elements of the nature.