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Rights of Nature: Difference between revisions
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==Legal Personhood== | ==Legal Personhood== | ||
Legal personhood began with the 1819 U.S. Supreme Court case Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, recognising corporations' rights and liabilities. The concept later expanded to natural entities, starting in 2008 when Ecuador granted legal rights to nature in its constitution. | |||
Legal personhood for natural entities started to protect natural entities within legal frameworks worldwide, with duties, and liabilities similar to those of a person. | |||
In 2017, New Zealand granted Te Awa Tupua (Te Reo)—the Whanganui River in Taranaki on the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand— legal personhood. For over 140 years, the local Māori iwi (tribe) of Te Awa Tupua fought to have their river recognised as an ancestor. In 2017 the New Zealand government awarded Te Awa Tupua “all the rights, duties, and liabilities of a legal person”. Te Awa Tupua is now legally acknowledged as “an indivisible and living whole from the mountains to the sea, incorporating the Whanganui River and all of its physical and metaphysical elements.” The recognition of Te Awa Tupua as a legal person represents a shift in the legal landscape, emphasising the importance of protecting natural entities and acknowledging their intrinsic value. | |||
==Ecocide== | ==Ecocide== | ||