Safeguarding nature’s right to a healthy environment

• Published date: 15 December 2022
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

Having stood since the 14th century, long before the surrounding town and houses even existed, the mighty oak disappeared forever in little over an hour on June 29th last, despite determined efforts by locals to save it

Campaigners had served the local council with an injunction in a last-gasp effort to save the tree, but a local district court judge dismissed it, claiming it was outside its jurisdiction.

Despite its great age, what sealed the fate of the ancient oak was that, in a world of human values and human rules, it lacked the basic legal right to exist. Humanity's problematic and increasingly strained relationship with the ecosystems and millions of other species with whom we share a common home is captured in the seeming anodyne phrase "natural resources". Put simply, if it can't speak up to defend itself, the world is fair game.

Judeo-Christian philosophy

Some scholars trace this to the ascendancy of Judeo-Christian philosophy, which saw mankind as entirely separate and superior to the rest of creation. This is captured notably in the Book of Genesis, where it states: "The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand."

The idea of who, or what, is entitled to rights and legal personhood is constantly evolving. Whole categories of human beings, from slaves to women and children, were long denied full legal personhood, and in many countries, the struggle for basic human rights is ongoing.

In modern times, corporations have been successful in achieving legal personhood in most countries, meaning they can buy and sell property, enter into contracts and sue on their own behalf to...