Legal rights for nature and wild creatures are evolving rapidly from symbolic concepts to enforceable laws. Traditionally, legal systems viewed nature as “property.” A growing global movement is now granting ecosystems and individual creatures legal personhood, giving them the right to exist, thrive, and be represented by human “guardians” in court.
This movement was first launched in Ecuador in 2008 when it established a framework of legal rights of nature: the rights of “Pacha Mama” (Mother Earth). The framework is built on ecological principles, including the precautionary principle (take no action until it can be proven to be harmless), prevention, and in dubio pro natura (“in doubt, favor nature”). These principles provide powerful tools to safeguard ecosystems and biodiversity, and mitigate climate change. They have been instrumental in halting harmful development projects and preserving biodiversity under ecosystem-based governance.
Numerous other countries including New Zealand, India, Panama, Uganda, Mexico, Bolivia, Canada, and Spain have enacted laws recognizing rights of nature, all within roughly the last 15 years. Ecuador’s Constitutional Court, in a first, expanded its legal rights of nature framework by establishing that marine environments are entitled to preservation and maintenance of their “life cycles, structure, functions, and evolutionary processes.” The court’s ruling recognizes the interconnectedness of marine life and its critical role in maintaining a healthy planet. Advocates can use this framework to challenge destructive activities, including overfishing and offshore fossil-fuel development.
Many indigenous communities have long understood that the health of nature directly impacts our own well-being and have honored this symbiotic relationship. The right of nature movement is about balancing what is good for humans with what is good for other species, recognizing that all life is deeply interconnected.
More than 150 laws have been established worldwide recognizing the rights of rivers, forests, oceans, mountains, and all of nature. In 2024, Peru enshrined the legal right of stingless bees, the first insects in the world to be granted such rights. Roughly half of the world’s 500 known stingless bee species live in the Amazon, where they pollinate more than 80 percent of local plant species, including crops such as cacao, coffee, and avocados. What prompted Peru to take action was their decline from deforestation and pesticide use.
Codifying the rights of nature in law is a revolutionary departure from conventional environmental policies. It is paving the way for a profound transformation from the anthropocentric mindset that has long dominated environmental thinking.
