Bolivia is set to pass the world’s first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans, according to a recent report in The Guardian newspaper.
The Law of Mother Earth, which has been agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country’s rich mineral deposits as “blessings” and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry.
The country, which has been pilloried by the US and Britain in the UN climate talks for demanding steep carbon emission cuts, will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.
Controversially, it will also enshrine the right of nature “to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities”.
Bolivia has long suffered from serious environmental problems from the mining of tin, silver, gold and other raw materials and is currently struggling to cope with rising temperatures, melting glaciers and more extreme weather events, including more frequent floods, droughts, frosts and mudslides.
To read the Guardian article, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights?INTCMP=SRCH.