Spree under protection: Environmentalists demand rights for rivers!

Spree under protection: Environmentalists demand rights for rivers!

In Germany there are more and more voices that advocate legal recognition of the Spree. Environmentalists demand that the Spree receive its own legal personality. This movement is part of a global initiative to establish rights for nature, which is already promoted in countries such as Ecuador, New Zealand and India. In Article 71 of his constitution "of nature or pacha mama", Ecuador guarantees its own rights and thus recognizes the deeply rooted connection between man and nature, which is also represented by indigenous cultures, as [ZDF today] (https://www.zdfheute.de/politik/ Umweltschutz-klima-fluesse-spree-rechte-100.html)

The condition of many rivers in Germany, including the approximately 15,000 small and medium -sized waters, is often worrying. Environmentalists are committed to ensuring that with the awarding of rights to nature, preventive protective measures for our ecosystems can also take place. Professor Christian Calliess emphasizes that the existing environmental law in Germany is comprehensively designed, but Christine AX criticizes the “Rights of Nature” network that the existing laws often only apply after a destruction of nature, which has catastrophic consequences for the environment.

Right of nature in focus

A concept that increasingly puts in the foreground is the legal recognition of nature as a legal subject. This would be a significant step in the right direction and could ensure that nature is no longer viewed just as an object of environmental protection. Currently, nature in Germany cannot derive subjective rights or legally sue, which makes the claims for a constitutional change to recognize these rights all the more urgent. In this context, the ability to integrate nature conservation into social and economic infrastructures is considered essential in order to be able to counter the current ecological crisis, which is reinforced by climate change and species, such as bpb.

A new approach that is considered in this discussion is a "ecological basic law" that has already been developed by the "Rights of Nature" network and could include the awarding of self -rights to the Spree. This is done as part of a pilot project that is intended to improve the oxygen supply to the Spree. In addition, a draft law is brought into the Bundestag for the legal recognition of the Spree in order to give it a voice.

A look over the borders

The international movement for nature's rights has already shown some successes. For example, in New Zealand, the Whanganui flow was recognized as a legally capable of action. This heralds a new era in nature conservation, in which people no longer prevails over nature, but steps into a partnership with it. The proposal for the legal recognition of nature as a legal subject is no coincidence and is reflected in the current discussion about new ecological liberalism. Andreas Gutmann's contribution in the book "Can the Anthropocene succeed?" Thematize these independent legal approaches and their importance for our future in the Anthropocene, such as de Gruyter.

summarized, the various initiatives and demands show that rethinking nature as a legal actor is urgently necessary to make a real change. The protection of nature not only requires the adaptation of existing laws, but also a fundamental realignment of our understanding of law, which recognizes and promotes the rights of nature. This is the only way we can successfully master the challenges of our time and leave future generations an intact environment.