British Town Joins a Growing ‘Nature’s Rights’ Campaign

 

An English town is asking British officials to approve “legal personhood” for the river that runs through it.

Frome is a market town in the county¹ of Somerset. It has asked Britain’s government to effectively give the River Frome human rights.

In doing so, Frome has joined a worldwide “rights of nature” movement. In each case, communities are reimagining ways to use the law to defend the Earth’s living tissues² -- and the places they call home.

Peter MacFadyen is the mayor³ of Frome. He and his supporters see their efforts as part of a struggle to reset⁴ the balance between nature and the modern world.

“This is much bigger than just wanting to punish people for doing something wrong,” Macfadyen said. “It’s about trying to change a mindset about the environment in which we live.”

The town has been waiting for months for an answer from the government.

Supporters of the nature’s rights see Frome as the first test case for the movement in Europe. But some in Frome are not so sure.

Lawyer Neil Howlett lives by the river. Howlett says he supports many of the community-building steps taken by Macfadyen and other independent local politicians. But he sees the council⁵’s push for a “river’s rights” bylaw as a distraction⁶.

“Having a law which is completely outside the cultural basis of the society in which you pass the law doesn’t make for law that works,” Howlett said. “It’s lovely as an idea. But it’s only lovely as an idea.”

'Programmed for self-destruction'

Some indigenous⁷ peoples have long believed that rivers, mountains and lakes are in some sense living beings. In 1972, American Christopher Stone expressed the idea in modern-day legal terms.

Stone wrote a book called Should Trees Have Standing⁸?. In it, he argued that the best way to protect things in nature would be to give them the kinds of legal protections usually only offered to human beings.

That idea is spreading. Campaigners won what is called the first “rights of nature” courtroom victory in Ecuador in 2011. In that case, judges stopped a road-widening project from leaving stones in the Vilcabamba River.

Around the same time, Bolivia developed a vision⁹ of nature’s rights in a law known as “The Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.”

In 2017, New Zealand’s parliament¹⁰ became the first legislature to confirm a river’s legal personhood. That same year, a high court in India ruled that the Ganga and Yamuna rivers had legal rights.

Colombia’s constitutional court made a similar move for the Atrato River basin, where communities face illegal gold mining and paramilitary violence.

This summer, Bangladesh recognized the rights of all its rivers.

Supporters see such rulings as an important part in moving away from the goal of economic growth while ignoring ecological¹¹ harm.

“The current system is programmed for self-destruction, and the legal system is the enabler,” said lawyer Mumta Ito. She founded Nature’s Rights, a Scotland-based advocacy group that has been advising Frome’s town council.

Ito added, “The only way we’ll be able to change things is by creating a new operating system with nature’s rights at its core¹².”

The world’s waterways face growing pressure from the extremes of heat, rainfall and dry weather, all driven by climate change. Macfadyen argues any effort that helps people to look at nature differently is important.

“We’re in the situation we’re in because we’ve misunderstood our position in the ecosystem¹³,” he said. “We can’t do what we like. If we pour poison over everything, it comes back to bite us.”

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

mayor - n. an official who is elected to be the head of the government of a city or town

basis - n. something (such as an idea or set of ideas) from which another thing develops or can develop

indigenous - adj. produced, living, or existing naturally in a particular region¹⁴ or environment

distraction - n. something that makes it difficult to think or pay attention

ecological - adj. related¹⁵ to a science that deals with the relationships between groups of living things and their environments

advocacy - n. the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal¹⁶ : the act or process of advocating something

ecosystem - n. everything that exists in a particular environment

1 county   

n.县，郡

参考例句：

• When the good news reached there,the whole county rejoiced.喜讯传到那里时，全县的人都欢欣鼓舞起来。
• In that year county after county fell to the enemy.那一年一个又一个的县城沦入敌人手中。

2 tissues   

n.组织( tissue的名词复数 )；薄纸；棉纸；一套

参考例句：

• The teacher showed the students the pictures of brain tissues. 老师给学生们看脑组织的图片。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Give some face tissues to me. 给我些面巾纸。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 mayor   

n.市长

参考例句：

• The new mayor said he would clean the city up.新市长说，他要整顿本市。
• The mayor hurried into his office,brushing off the reporters.市长赶快走进办公室，拒不接见记者。

4 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

5 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

6 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

7 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 vision   

n.视觉，先见之明，光景，视力，眼力，幻想，影像；vt.幻想

参考例句：

• The wall cuts across our line of vision.那面墙挡住了我们的视线。
• Much reading has impaired his vision.大量读书损害了他的视力。

10 Parliament   

n.议会，国会

参考例句：

• She won a seat in Parliament at the election.她在选举中赢得了议会中的席位。
• The drug was banned by an act of parliament.议会的法案明令禁止该药品。

11 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

12 core   

n.中心；核心；(苹果、梨等果实的)果心

参考例句：

• We didn't get to the core of the subject.我们没触及问题的核心。
• The pear is rotten to the core.这梨全烂了。

13 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

14 region   

n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• It is unusual to see snow in this region.这个地区难得见到雪。

15 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

16 proposal   

n.提议，建议；求婚

参考例句：

• I feel that we ought to accept his proposal.我觉得我们应该接受他的建议。
• They could not gain over anyone to support their proposal.他们无法争取到支持他们建议的人。