Given the dilemma facing legalization on environmen-tal rights, it is necessary to re-examine the nature and function of en-vironmental human rights under the theoretical system of basic rights. Its justification approach follows a logical chain from a rights-based approach to basic rights. The difficulty in legalizing environmental rights reflects the disputes over the basis for environmental law. Re-constructing the right-based approach in environmental law can justi-fy the rights-oriented path to the environmental rule of law. The basic rights system with human rights as the core can explain the constitu-tional environmental human rights. As the basic rights not enumerated in the Constitution, the environmental human rights have such func-tions as the right of self-defense, the right to benefit, and institutional, organizational and procedural guarantees due to its dual nature of subjective right and objective law.