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RIGHTS OF NATURE HISTORY OF EVOLUTION OF RIGHTS OF NATURE AND ITS STATUS IN THE 21ST CENTURY (By- Ms.V.Poojasree & Ms.Shylasree)
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RIGHTS OF NATURE
HISTORY OF EVOLUTION OF RIGHTS OF
NATURE AND ITS STATUS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Authored By-Ms.V.Poojasree[1]
Ms.Shylasree[2]
Abstract
The
concept of rights of nature without exception refers to the recognition of
nature as an entity and presenting their legal status by conferring on them
legal rights. Earth in its original form consisted of natural things such as the sun,
land, sea soil, etc. and living beings such as animals, humans, plants, trees
etc. Basically, the history of evolution of law is directly related to human
civilization, the rights that are deemed basic for every human creature is
human rights among all other rights, likewise, to other natural things in the
earth it is termed as “rights of nature”.
The root of rights of nature lies
between the legal philosophy behind the evolution of human rights, it emanated
from the philosophical belief that as human rights are deemed to be arisen from
humanity’s existence in the earth, the rights of nature also arisen from the
nature’s own existence on the earth. This paper attempts to detail about the
historical aspect of evolution of rights of nature, the jurisprudential
philosophy behind the recognition of rights of nature, conferment of legal
status, and rights to nature and its status in these modern days. This paper
focuses on the historical events and the corresponding environmental issues
that sparked the recognition of rights of nature by being a reason that
necessitated the need for rights of nature.
Research
Methodology:
This research paper is out of a doctrinal
study, so it attempted to figure out the historical events that gave birth to
the concept of “rights of nature” and demonstrates the position of recognition
to nature’s rights and its causes.
Research
Objectives:
¨ This paper elucidates the emergence of rights of
nature as it is in its evolutionary stage being recognized by seven countries
in the world.
¨ It examines the various perspectives behind affording
legal rights to nature.
¨ It attempts to demonstrate the need that necessitated
legal status for nature to overcome the problems of environmental issues and
overexploitation of nature and to ensure sustainable life on earth.
Introduction:
In
the present scenario, with respect to the legal rights of nature, a number of
countries have recognized them. Earth being approximately some 4.54 billion
years old, the underpinning of nature’s rights is claimed to be the same as
human rights by reasoning that humans’ own survival is directly dependent on
the health of the ecosystem. It is argued that if the mere existence of humans
can afford rights to them, then, it is logically sufficient to afford rights to
nature by considering its existence. The elements that gave rise to the rights
of nature include several philosophical legal concepts, efforts of individuals
by doctrines, and most importantly the environmental issues that seek an answer
from the legal system are those which ultimately surface the way for legal
recognition of nature by providing them rights considering them as a legal
entity.
History Of Events That Sparked And Promoted The
Rights Of Nature
¨ In the year of 1972, the article named “should trees
have standing” in southern California by professor Christopher stone on legal
rights of nature. It established the right-less state of nature under the
prevailing system of law in those days. It launched a worldwide debate
concerned with the fundamental basic nature of legal rights which reached the
ears of the U.S. supreme court.
¨ Wilderness and the American Mind, by Roderick Nash
which was initially published in 1967 but originally published in 1973 spelled
out wilderness as the absence of humans and their influences which allows
nature to be in its original form undisturbed by man, the exact opposite of
urban environment. It examined the transformation of attitudes of Americans in
the direction of wilderness from hostility to identification of the necessity
of creation and protection of wilderness as places where a man can be a visitor
but not a resident.
¨ In 1989, professor Roderick Nash published a book
called “The Rights of Nature”. The book was about the history of environmental
ethics, the history of contemporary philosophy, as well as the religious
beliefs toward nature, was charted in his book. Rod Nash also took part in the
Free Winter Speaker Series by Aspen Centre for Environmental Studies on 19th
Jan 2012 on the topic meaning of wilderness and the rights of nature.
¨ In 2001, the book called “The Origin, Differentiation,
and Role of Rights” by Thomas Berry, narrated the possession of inherent rights
by all members of the earth community. He pointed out that the “origination of
rights” is from the “origination of existence”. He said the determinant of
existence determines the rights as well. He defined rights as the due given to
every being on earth. He also pointed out that the universe is composed of
subjects that are meant to have communed with each other but not to be
exploited, so he claims as “subjects” each component of the universe is
eligible to hold rights. he establishes that there are three basic rights that
every living and non-living component of the earth community has, the right to
habitat, the right to be and also in the ever-renewing processes of the earth
community the right to fulfill its role. He claims that planet earth is one single
community where its components are bound together with the interdependent
relationships among them.
¨ In the year of 2003, the book was named “Wild Law: A
Manifesto for Earth Justice” by Cormac Cullinan. In proposing for recognition
of the legal status of natural communities and ecosystems, he added spiritual
and moral elements to the historic discussion on the rights of nature begun by
Christopher Stone and Roderick Nash. Wild law as explained by Cullinan refers
to that human law that is consistent with earth jurisprudence, it regulates
human behavior for maintaining the integrity in the functioning of the whole
earth community in long term than concentrating on the interests of any species
at a particular time. Since then, wild
law was one of the most talkable topics.
¨ In the year of 2005, the Navajo Nation Tribal Council
of the United States drew upon its former codification of non-colonial
customary and traditional laws when it banned the mining of uranium.
¨ In 2006, Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, U.S., being the very
first place in the world that recognized the rights of nature in law, imposed a
ban on dumping of toxic sewage sludge as it deemed it to be a violation of
nature’s rights. since then, a number of communities belonging in ten states of
U.S. enacted laws for the rights of nature.
¨ In 2008, the first country that inserted rights of
nature in its constitution was Ecuador, in 2011 it also held a decision in the
Vilcabamba river case upholding the constitutional provisions favoring rights
of nature which was the first rights of the nature court decision.
In the same year,
the rights of local ecosystems were also recognized by the people of Barnstead
and Nottingham, New Hampshire. Barnstead, to their former right to water
ordinance, passed an amendment with regard to rights of nature in 2006 and the
residents of Nottingham stopped the corporate water privatization system using
their own laws.
¨ One of the big movements with respect to rights of
nature by the UN General assembly in the year 2009 was the proclamation of
“International Mother Earth Day”.
¨ In 2010 Bolivia conducted the “Worlds People’s
Conference on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth”. In that conference,
the event of the universal declaration on the rights of mother earth was issued
which was even placed before U.N. for consideration.
The Law of rights
of mother earth was passed by Bolivia’s legislative assembly.
In September
2010, Ecuador formed Global Alliance for Rights of Nature to
ensure that humans do not use nature for exploitative purposes but to honor the
interrelation of all life and earth and promote an environmentally sustainable
future. 26 visionaries from six continents took part in it by gathering
themselves in Patate, Ecuador.
Later in 2014,
the first rights of nature tribunal were sponsored in Ecuador by the Global
Alliance for Rights of Nature.
Pittsburgh also
enacted local law recognizing the rights of nature and imposed bans on the
extraction of combustible gas. The measure was supported by various strong
communities in favor of the measure and by a unanimous vote of the city
council.
¨ A campaign that was launched in Nepal in the year of
2011 with the object of bringing in advancement to rights of nature has brought
in the impact to the extent of considering about rights of nature
constitutional amendment.
¨ A campaign in India for recognizing the right of the
Ganga river was conducted by Ganga Action Parivar and Global Interfaith WASH
Alliance- India in the year 2012. The slogan of the campaign was “Ganga’s
rights are our rights “. It finally won by having the national Ganga river
rights act drafted. But long before all these a campaign was launched by Rajiv
Gandhi in the year 1986 known as the clean Ganga campaign and launched a
program called the Ganga action plan to reduce pollution on the river.
In the same year
Broadview Heights, Ohio adopted an ordinance recognizing the rights of the
local ecosystem as a result of which fossil fuel infrastructure and waste were
banned.
Also, in 2012
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) whose main objective is
to safeguard nature adopted a policy for the purpose of incorporating the
rights of nature in its decision-making processes.
¨ A campaign was launched exclusively in the way of
encouraging the European citizen’s initiative for the rights of nature in 2013.
It made citizens present proposals to the government of the European Union for
consideration.
The ordinance
passed by mora county, New Mexico banned corporate hydrocarbon extraction.
¨ In 2014 Colorado proposed a state constitutional
amendment in favor of the rights of nature.
An international
gathering was sponsored by the global alliance for the rights of nature which
as a result held the rights of nature tribunal in Ecuador
¨ In 2015, the Riksdag of Sweden considered creating a
commission for the preparation of a proposal on how to incorporate rights of
nature into Swedish law.
¨ In 2016, after the adoption of rights of nature by the
Green Party of England and Wales, similar steps were taken in Scotland also by
the Greens
A document known
as the grizzly treaty was signed by more than 200 U.S. and Canadian tribal
nations which recognized the right of the Grizzly bear to live in a healthy
ecosystem.
The ho-chuck,
which was the first tribal nation in the U.S. which took votes for rights of
nature to effect the constitutional amendment.
¨ In 2017, the rulings issued by the high court of
Jharkhand, India afforded rights to Ganga and Yamuna.
The panko nation
of Oklahoma also took on customary law in 2017 for recognizing the rights of
nature.
¨ In 2018 the hon’ble high court of Jharkhand recognized
the rights of the entire animal kingdom.
Rights of natural
law were enacted by the municipality of Paudalho, Pernambuco, Brazil.
¨ National lawyers guild in the united states regarded
human rights and rights of the ecosystem as more sacred than any other property
interests and so amended the organization’s constitution to include rights of
nature in 2019. The first law in U.S. affording rights to a specific ecosystem
took place, Toledo, Ohio residents acquired the Lake Erie bill of rights.
In the year 2019,
Uganda also enacted the national environmental act which enshrines nature with
the right to exist, maintain, regenerate its vital cycles, etc.
In the parliament
of Western Australia, the rights of nature and future generations bill was
introduced.
A law recognizing
the rights of nature was passed by the municipality of Florianopolis.
¨ several events took place in the year 2020 including,
successful
enforcement of local rights of nature law in grant township, Indiana County,
Pennsylvania.
The rights of the
specific ecosystem in defense of the Lake Erie bill of rights were argued in
federal court for the first time in the history of the U.S.
Citizenship was
afforded to pollinators, trees, and native plants by Curridabat of Costa Rica.
In Spain, a
campaign was launched to implement rights for Mar Menor.
Rights of nature
were decided to be integrated with the municipal planning and operation by the
Blue Mountain Council of New South Wales, Australia.
The Colombian
court declared lake Tota as an entity with legal rights
¨ In 2021 the state of Oaxaca, Mexico took an initiative
to recognize the rights of rivers and other water sources and for the right of
every individual in the state to live in harmony with nature.
A movement was
made in Canada to recognize the rights of Magpie river.
LEGAL
RECOGNITION OF RIGHTS OF NATURE IN 21st CENTURY
Several
countries have recognized a number of ecosystems around the world as living
entities and have also granted them legal personhood, and were also provided
with codified laws to conserve and protect them, few gave them rights after
realizing the environmental problems that necessitated the need for affording
rights to nature.
The
following countries have legally recognized the rights of nature,
1. ECUADOR
Rights of nature under the laws of Ecuador are under
article-71 of its re-drafted constitution.
In Ecuador nature is termed “Panchama”. In 1978 Galapagos
Island of Ecuador was declared as one of the 12 original UNESCO
world heritage sites. The Galapagos Island being one of the 12 original UNESCO
world heritage sites, Ecuador became a famous point in 2008 and created history
by including “rights of nature” in its constitution.
Article -71 of Ecuador enshrined the following rights
to nature (i.e. Pachamama)
§ Right to exist
§ Right to maintenance and regeneration of its cycles,
structures, functions, and evolutionary processes.
In
2011 Richard Frederick Wheeler and Eleanor Geer Huddle filed a suit in Ecuador
on behalf of the Vilcabamba River which suffered debris buildup due to a
road-widening project. The lawsuit was instituted against the provincial government
of Loja, a city located in southern Ecuador, it was when the new constitutional
decree was put to test there.
The
global alliance for rights of nature congratulated Richard Frederick Wheeler
and Eleanor Geer Huddle for the first successful case of rights of nature in
Ecuador. They both demanded the observance of the rights of nature. The case
was to protect the Vilcabamba river which was subjected to the dumping of large
quantities of rocks and excavation material in the river in the course of the Vilcabamba
- Quinara road widening project which ultimately violated the nature’s rights
by increasing river flow and provoking risk of disaster at the time of growth
of river that would probably take place during winter rains, causing floods.
This case had set a landmark in the history of rights of nature
2. NEW ZEALAND.
In
the year 2017, the Whanganui River of New Zealand was granted the legal rights
of a human being. The indigenous Maori of New Zealand has since so long been
fighting for its rights and considered the river Whanganui as being endowed
with spirit.
Now
the 2017 “Te Awa Tupua” (whanganui river claims settlement) act demonstrates it
as an “invisible living whole consisting of all its physical and
metaphysical elements” that includes not just the waters but its subsoil,
riverbed, flora, and even the airspace overhead.
The
river is now recognized as inalienable from Maori and legally made represented
by two, one the government and the other indigenous who are also responsible
for its health and wellbeing.
Though
the story of river Whanganui is being widely discussed there are also other
success stories of rights of nature that includes Te Urewera National Park on
the east coast of the north island for its ancient and enduring nature and
Mount Taranaki on the west coast of the north island acquired its rights in
2014 and 2018 respectively
3. COLOMBIA.
The
Atrato River near the Panama border of Colombia was granted personhood in the
eyes of law in the year 2017 for which the decision of the court played a major
role in the win for the river and its ecosystem. However, Colombia did not stop
with this, it also recognized legal rights to amazon’s ecosystem which was made
possible by 25 citizens by the way of their lawsuits. After that, even the la
Plata and Cauca rivers have also gained legal status.
4. AUSTRALIA
The
Yarra River in Victoria, Australia was declared as a living entity in September
2017. The court's decision not just upholds nature’s rights but also advanced
the aboriginal population of Yarra river valley, those peoples also had a hand
in getting rights to the river through the yarra river protection (Wilip-Gin
Birrarung) act. Wilip-Gin Birrarung simply translates to “keep the Yarra
alive”.
Unlike
Whanganui, in the case of Yarra, it was not just given legal rights and
assigned a legal guardian but was recognized as a legal entity and summons for
implementation of plans for its maintenance, and even a 12-person council was
established to advocate for the river.
5. UNITED STATES
Tamaqua
in Pennsylvania was the first in the world to recognize nature’s rights. Dozens
of communities have made codified laws for nature in the united states. Tamaqua
borough was taken as a start, and so in 2010 around 250 residents of west
Pittsburgh voted in favor of the environment’s right to be free from pollution.
Followed by the white earth band of Ojibwe which strived for the rights of
Manoomin or wild rice, which included protection from contamination and
pollution, the right to clean water, etc.
Not
all attempts to claim nature’s rights are successful, there’s a pending lawsuit
with respect to the rights of Lake Erie filed by the people of Toledo, Ohio,
the right demanded were objected to by the farmer on the ground that it is
neither constitutional nor legally sustainable.
6. BANGLADESH
In
2019, the supreme court proclaimed the river Turag and all other rivers in
Bangladesh to be alive and granted legal rights which even faced criticisms for
uplifting eviction as a solution to the human-encroachment problem. While many
countries are recognizing the rights of nature,
what
makes Bangladesh, being a “land of rivers”, stand out is that it had granted
rights to all rivers was the comment made by Ben price, the national director
for CELDF (Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund).
7. INDIA.
Soon
after New Zealand's decision in the Whanganui rivers issue, the sacred Ganges
And Yamuna rivers were afforded legal rights by the high court of the
mountainous state of Uttarkhand in deciding the issue with respect to causing
pollution in the name of performing holy rituals in the rivers.
Conclusion:
In
the early 2000s recognition rights of nature was remarkable. As of 2021, in 17
countries nature’s rights laws are prevailing in the form of treaties, constitutional
laws, judicial decisions, national laws, sub-national laws, and local laws.
Though
several laws were enacted and nature was afforded rights, rather than
preventing environmental destruction, the laws are setting a limit on the
extent of exploiting natural resources.
The
issue like overfishing, deforestation and global warming is far more advanced
than in earlier days. Several countries have extended their legal body to
include the right to a healthy environment as a human right.
Even
today the major environmental issues like pollution, global warming, improper
were disposal, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, ozone
layer depletion, acid rain, etc. are largely prevalent all over the globe due
to the disturbance caused to nature and its resources by man in the name of
usage of nature.
Since
the human population is directly dependent on nature for its survival, the
trouble caused to nature will directly have an impact on the human life, by
making small changes to man’s everyday lifestyle without affecting nature’s
rights sustainable life on earth can be attained, reducing the environmental
crisis as well.
As
humans are afforded the right to life, liberty, and free existence without
disturbance by others, we must also realize and recognize the life and rights
of other living and non-living components on earth. We must realize the fact
that life of man on earth is not possible without the ecosystem, so, equal
importance and rights must be given to all living and non-living components on
earth.
Article Information
RIGHTS OF NATURE HISTORY OF EVOLUTION OF RIGHTS OF NATURE AND ITS STATUS IN THE 21ST CENTURY (By- Ms.V.Poojasree & Ms.Shylasree)
Author Name: Ms.V.Poojasree & Ms.Shylasree
Title: RIGHTS OF NATURE HISTORY OF EVOLUTION OF RIGHTS OF NATURE AND ITS STATUS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Email Id: Ms.V.Poojasree-poojasreedevendiran30@gmail.com & Ms.Shylasree-shylashreereddy1320@gmail.com
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2022/07/05
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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