Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

The current Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was passed in 1999. The National Electoral Council reported tonight that 71% of votes were in favor of the new charter while 28.79 percent were against it. The turnout was 44.4% of Venezuela's 11 million registered voters; this low turnout was attributed to a certain extent to torrential rains around the period that the referendum took place. This Constitution has since been amended once, in 2009. In 2017, Maduro’s government started moving towards creating a new Constitution, although this caused widespread objection objections and it still has not led to a new charter to replace the 1999 Constitution. Within the current Constitution’s environmental rights chapter, Chapter IX, develops a right to sustainable development and establishes that the State shall protect a series of environmental areas. Moreover, article 127 establishes a fundamental duty of the State to ensure a pollution-free environment where climate, among other environmental topics, receives special protection. This provision states the following: “It is the right and duty of each generation to protect and maintain the environment for its own benefit and that of the world of the future. Everyone has the right, individually and collectively, to enjoy a safe, healthful and ecologically balanced life and environment. The State shall protect the environment, biological and genetic diversity, ecological processes, national parks and natural monuments, and other areas of particular ecological importance. The genome of a living being shall not be patentable, and the field shall be regulated by the law relating to the principles of bioethics. It is a fundamental duty of the State, with the active participation of society, to ensure that the populace develops in a pollution-free environment in which air, water, soil, coasts, climate, the ozone layer and living species receive special protection, in accordance with law.”