Nature as a bearer of rights: a legal construction in pursuit for better environmental protection? (original) (raw)
The World Climate Conference (COP 23), held in Bonn, Germany, has ended on November 17th and some of its key outcomes seem to be auspicious (e.g. the coal phase-out promoted by some states). Yet, one of the most dividing points in international environmental law has remained untouched: whether-when considering environmental rights and obligations-nature should be the carrier of rights and thus be protected for the sake of itself (so called ecocentric approach), or whether its protection serve only as a prerequisite for the enjoyment of human rights such as the right to life or to health (anthropocentric or human-centred approach). International agreements, such as the 1972 Stockholm Declaration positioned themselves quite clearly: "'Man is both creature and moulder of his environment […] Both aspects of man's environment, the natural and the man-made, are essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights the right to life itself'. While avoiding such explicit statement on the status of human beings, subsequent agreements, including the Paris Agreement that recently entered into force, do not intend to change the system fundamentally. Nature as a legal entity Nature as a legal entity However, a growing number of national governments, the Pope, and scholars have affiliated themselves to a more ecocentric approach (in
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