Laws should support nature's rights
Ireland could become the first country in the European Union to enact the Rights of Nature movement into their national constitution. If approved, Ireland will join over 30 other countries and tribal nations around the world that currently have constitutional rights for nature.
According to the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, this movement “is the recognition that our ecosystems — including trees, oceans, animals, mountains — have rights just as human beings have rights. Rights of Nature is about balancing what is good for human beings against what is good for other species and what is good for the planet as a world.”
This movement allows people to stand up against corporations that present harm to the environment. Once included in the constitution, nature is given similar protection as humans to allow ecosystems to flourish.
Ireland’s proposal would aid in the biodiversity crisis the country presently faces. Ireland’s recent Citizens Assembly Report stated the need “for the State to take prompt, decisive and urgent action to address biodiversity loss and restoration and to provide leadership in protecting Ireland’s biodiversity for future generations.”
The report further emphasizes the dangers presented by the current lack of urgency in enforcing environmental regulations.
Granting nature governmental protection has been a topic circling politics since the 20th century. The movement arose in 1972 when Christopher Stone, law professor at the University of Southern California, published his work titled “Should Trees Have Standing?” His article proposed the idea that nature should be allowed rights, just like people.
In 2006, Tamaqua Borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, became the first community in the world to draft and use a Rights of Nature law. With assistance from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, the borough successfully banned the dumping of sewage sludge from waste companies.
Shortly after, in 2008, Ecuador became the first country to include the Rights of Nature movement in its national constitution.
Now, countries such as Canada, Mexico, France, Colombia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, India, New Zealand and Uganda have incorporated similar Rights of Nature laws into their governments. In the United States today, the Rights of Nature movement has been adopted into local jurisdictions in more than three dozen communities.
What began as a simple question proposed by Stone has grown into a global effort to prevent further degradation of natural resources and harm to ecosystems caused by human actions.
Sustainable measures are necessary for both society and nature to flourish alongside one another. These measures are essential in a governmental system where human language and needs are regarded above all else.
The less disconnected we are to the natural world when making economic decisions, the easier it will be to come up with sustainable solutions. Why work against the environment when we can work as one?
