Antropocene e responsabilità ambientale: primi spunti dalla dottrina portoghese

Anthropocene and Environmental Responsibility: introductory insights from the Portuguese doctrine

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present some initial insights into the concepts of the Anthropocene and environmental responsibility in Portuguese legal doctrine, based on the specialized literature on the subject. The relevance of the Portuguese case is justified the fact that it was one of the first European Constitutions to include environmental values in its legal system, with the Constitution of 1976. This occurred in the nascent phase of environmental constitutionalism. In this study we try to contextualize the Anthropocene as a new paradigm of law, by describing environmental protection in the Portuguese Constitution as a whole and analyzing how Portuguese legal doctrine deals with the Anthropocene shaping new legal tools with a special reference to environmental responsibility.

Keywords: Anthropocene; Law; Environmental responsibility; Portugal