41 progressively compounded if sufficient measures are not taken to put an end to it. Consequently, the Committee considers that it is competent ratione temporis to consider all the facts raised in this complaint. The alleged violation of Article 11 194. The Committee highlights that the Charter is a living instrument, whose purpose is to protect rights not merely theoretically but also in fact (International Commission of Jurists v. Portugal (Complaint No. 1/1998), decision on the merits of 9 September 1999, §32). It therefore interprets the rights and freedoms set out in the Charter in the light of current conditions. 195. The Committee has therefore taken account of the growing link that states party to the Charter and other international bodies (see below) now make between the protection of health and a healthy environment, and has interpreted Article 11 of the Charter (right to protection of health) as including the right to a healthy environment. 196. The Committee would like to take the opportunity presented by this complaint to clarify its interpretation of the right to a healthy environment. In doing so, it takes account of the principles established in the case-law of other human rights supervisory bodies, namely the European Court of Human Rights1, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights2 and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights3 at the regional level, and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights4 at the global level. In view of the scale and level of detail of the European Union's body of law governing matters covered by the complaint, it has also taken account of several judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. 197. The Committee observes that Greece has used its natural resources of lignite for forty years as its main form of fuel for energy production. The most important deposits of lignite are located in the Kozani-Ptolemaida region (Eordea valley, prefecture of Kozani and Florina) in western Macedonia and in the Megalopolis region (prefecture of Arkadia) in the Peloponnese. Nearly all the lignite extracted is used in electricity production in coal-fired power stations. Greece is the second largest lignite producer in the European Union and fifth in the world. Despite progress made towards the diversification of energy supplies, it is likely in the near future that lignite will continue to be the main energy source in Greece. 1 See, in particular, Manual on human rights and the environment - Principles emerging from the caselaw of the European Court of Human Rights, prepared by the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, 2006, 90 pages. 2 See in particular Inter-Am.C.H.R., report on the situation of Human Rights in Ecuador, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.96, doc. 10rev.1(1997). 3 See in particular The Social and Economic Rights Action Center and the Center for Economic and Social Rights in Nigeria, African Commission on Human and People's Rights Decision on Communication 155/96, 30th ordinary session, Banjul, Gambia, 13 October 2001. 4 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 14 (2000), The right to the highest attainable standard of health (article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), E/C.12/2000/4, 11 August 2000.