Mother Nature May Earn Legal Rights in Bolivia

Never in history has the topic of sustainability been a more popular or important topic of conversation. Saving the environment is on the immediate to-do list of individuals and organisations across the world, but will governments go as far as to grant legal rights to Mother Nature herself? The answer is shockingly, but quite possibly, yes.

Today, the United Nations will propose Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth, based on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, in an attempt to lead the world into a new age of conservation of natural resources and a strict reduction of pollution. The treaty includes four articles and, if passed, would grant the environment 11 legal rights, including the right to life and to exist, the right to continue processes free from human disturbance, the right to pure water and clean air, the right to balance, the right not to be polluted, the right to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that negatively affect ecosystems and the local inhabitants and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered. Does this mean no cutting down trees?

It's hard to determine whether the proposal is silly or a solution. Although it is highly unlikely that the UN will approve the treaty any time soon, the truth is that especially in the suffering environment of Bolivia, Mother Nature isn't in the best shape right now. It remains to be seen whether granting a bill of rights to flora and fauna is the best way to restore her to her former glory.

[Via The Guardian]