Thursday, November 13, 2008

Ecuador gives rights to nature

What a novel idea, nature has a right to exist. What leading country declared such a basic fact? Ecuador.

According to Earthjustice:

the Rights of Nature section in the Ecuadorian constitution that recently became law does just that. In Ecuador today, an ecosystem:

Has the "right to exist" and—perhaps more importantly—to "persist."
Has the right to "maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, and functions."
Has the right to "its processes in evolution."
And most importantly, any person, people, or community can take legal action to defend those rights without showing personal harm.

Rights of Nature provisions may finally provide balance in legal systems around the world that tend to view nature as only an economic resource for humans.
BTW, this is from the great Earthjustice blog, unEARTHED. Read it, or find yourself hopelessly left behind.

2 comments:

Lydia said...

That's wonderful. My husband and I sponsor a five-year-old boy in Ecuador through Plan-USA (community-centered, no religious affiliation organization at www.planusa.org). I will mention this in my next letter to his mother as I try to make my communications to the family ecology-oriented. She was amazed to learn about forest fires when I sent a U.S. Forest Service Smokey Bear educational coloring book...

Izzy said...

Kudos!