New Zealand declared personhood of the Whanganui River, sacred to the Maori and to the environment. Then India followed, establishing rights of two rivers: Ganges, and Yamuna, site of the Taj Mahal. Next, Colombia mandated the rights of the Atrato River, setting precedent for the Supreme Court of Colombia to assure an “intergenerational pact for the life of the Colombian Amazon.” It was the passion of children, 25 young citizens rising up to prevent further deforestation that had shown an increase of 44% between 2015-2016. Working with Dejusticia, the children petitioned the Colombian government and won, obtaining a tutela (legal regulation regarding rights). Bolivia has established perhaps the broadest environmental rights declaration: Law of the Rights of Mother Earth. How has climate change intensified the evolution of environmental rights?
Bolivia: Ley De Derechos De La Madre Tierra. https://www.scribd.com/document/44900268/Ley-de-Derechos-de-la-Madre-Tierra-Estado-Plurinacional-de-Bolivia
Brooke, Kathleen Lusk and Zoe G. Quinn, “Rivers are People Too.” 24 March 2017. Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2017/03/24/rivers-are-people-too/
Cano, Lidia Pecharroman. “Rights of Nature: Rivers That Can Stand in Court.” 14 February 2018. Earth Institute, Columbia University. mdpi.com/2079-9276/7/1/13/pdf.
Colombia: Law STC 4360-2018, number 11001-22-03-000-2018-00319-01, approved 4 April 2018. https://www.dejusticia.org/en/climate-change-and-future-generations-lawsuit-in-colombia-key-excerpts-from-the-supreme-courts-decision/
New Zealand: Te Awa Tupua Claims Settlement Bill 129-2, 2016. http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2016/0129/latest/DLM6830851.html
Stone, Christoper. “Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Southern California Law Review, 1972, No. 45, pp 450-501.https://iseethics.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/stone-christopher-d-should-trees-have-standing.pdf
Appreciation to Evan T. Litwin for suggestion of Colombian 2018 law.
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License