No government has recognised access to nature as a right, yet it can and does deliver benefits to everyone in society. The Scottish Government is consulting on a rights of children and young people bill, to establish within law the responsibility of Scottish ministers to have "due regard" to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.The Convention – signed by every member of the UN except Somalia and the US – outlines children's fundamental rights such as the right to an identity, the right to life and development, and the right to be heard.

All forty-three rights recognised by the Convention are important, and some clearly more fundamental than others; a number of countries struggle to ensure that even some of the more basic rights are recognised and some actively obstruct them. The terrible deprivations suffered by people across the world should not blind us to the social and health inequalities that remain in our own country.

When people talk of human rights in the context of nature conservation, they often mean protecting the rights of people in the non-industrial world to make use of the obvious things nature provides, such as firewood, food and traditional remedies. But ready access to nature, including in affluent nations like the UK, can and does make people's lives better. Think about it: the second thing people tend to buy once they can afford it is a nicer, greener place to live; the first is usually a car.

Governments can and should articulate a new right: that every child and young person has the right to grow up and live in a high-quality, wildlife-rich environment with ready access to the physical and mental health benefits, developmental advantages and play opportunities it affords.

There is a growing and compelling body of evidence that regular and ready access to a wildlife-rich environment is essential for children's health and wellbeing. Recognising – and acting on – a right to that wildlife-rich world is essential for delivering better health, better educational attainment and better social development. Research published in The Lancet shows that, even after other factors are accounted for, living in a green environment makes people healthier.

One Scottish child in five is overweight and one in ten is obese but we know that access to attractive, nature-rich greenspace increases physical activity and reduces obesity. Children who live in busy urban areas where there are lots of trees have lower rates of asthma and lower rates of behavioural problems such as ADHD, yet Scotland has no strategy to green those streets that have high levels of air pollution.

Children who spend time playing outside suffer less from short sight later in life than those who don't. Children who have ready access to the natural environment have better self-esteem, self-confidence, independence, autonomy and initiative than those who don't.

Nature is good for people: let's recognise the right of every child to live and grow up in a wildlife-rich world.

• Tony King is head of policy for the Scottish Wildlife Trust