L'ambiente come diritto fondamentale della persona ed il problema della legittimazione ad agire

The essay reproduces the speech at the conference on the subject of the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems for an integral system of protections. The author questions the problem of the lack of individual legitimacy to take action for compensation for environmental damage. The choice of the internal and European legislator to reserve the legislation to act for compensation for environmental damage to the State has generated a void of protection which, according to the author, can be overcome by the configuration of the environment as a fundamental right of the person. The author, retracing the path that led to the constitutional reform, comes to recognize individual protection of the environmental interest, through a reconstruction of the environmental interest as a fundamental right of the person and of the consequent damage as existential damage.