Should the natural world have legal rights?

Robert MacFarlane’s latest book is entitled “Is a River Alive?” and it asks what happens if we take seriously the idea of a river being alive in terms of our perception, law and politics.

Many indigenous peoples see the living world as an integrated whole both from a practical and spiritual point of view. They believe in an essence or soul in all things, not just living creatures

The modern view of the natural world is that it is something quite separate from us. It is a resource to be exploited based on the belief that this will benefit humans. 

It has been suggested that if you had a global parliament and all the species could vote then they would probably decide to eject humans from the planet!

There is a growing international movement called the "Rights of Nature" which argues that ecosystems and natural entities like rivers should have their own  legal rights to exist and thrive. This would mean, for example, that a river would have the right not to be polluted or have its flow stopped.

You might find the idea that a river should have rights a bit strange. The UK government's official position is that it rejects the idea of granting rights to nature itself. However, when you think about it, if non-human entities such as companies can have the legal rights of personhood then why shouldn't rivers and other eco systems?

Another argument often put forward is that nature doesn’t have agency so who would represent the river in a court of law? Typically a river would be represented by ‘River Guardians’ who would speak for the river. The same situation effectively already exists for children and for some vulnerable adults where there is legal representation on their behalf.

There are already quite a few countries where rights of nature have been established. One of the earliest examples was in 2008 in Ecuador when a new constitution was ratified by referendum which granted rights to nature. Other well known examples are the Whanganui River in New Zealand (“I am the River, the River is me.”) and the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia. In 2020 voters in Orange County, Florida approved a state law to recognise the rights of rivers and other waterways to “exist, flow, to be protected against pollution and to maintain a healthy eco system”. 

In England we are starting to see more interest in establishing the rights of rivers. At present there are no rivers at all with a good overall status.

The following website is a good place to start getting a better understanding of the Rights of Nature: Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights.