"Although most of the world largely continues with business as usual, a growing number of governments have embraced cutting-edge legal solutions that would allow humans to live in harmony with nature.

"One of the most promising legal solutions is 'rights of nature.' It recognizes that nature is a 'legal entity' or 'persons' with fundamental rights. This movement received global attention when Ecuador recognized the rights of nature in its 2008 Constitution. Now, rights of nature is recognized in some 12 countries through a combination of national and local legislation, landmark court decisions, treaty agreements, and other legal developments.

"Rights of nature corrects shortcomings of modern environmental laws. Environmental laws operate as a tourniquet, creating rules to prevent nature’s loss but doing little to address root causes—such as an economy that incentivizes the maximum exploitation of nature for profit. By contrast, rights of nature establishes a legal duty for humans to protect and restore ecosystems to health because that is their right.

"The rights of nature, although still in its early stages, is gaining momentum. In 2017, the Constitutional Court of Colombia declared the Atrato River—one of Colombia’s largest rivers—to be a 'subject of rights,' with rights to protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration. The Court also created a guardianship body to serve as the voice of the river, just as a child might have a legal guardian. Finally, the Court ordered state authorities to create a plan—a blueprint is in the works—to decontaminate waterways in the Atrato River basin, to end illegal mining, and take other actions to uphold the rights of rivers." - Grant Wilson

Article: Humans Have Rights and So Should Nature