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From October 21 to November 1, the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is being held in Cali, Colombia, under the theme “Peace with Nature.”
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In this context, the International Institute of Law and the Environment (IIDMA) presents its report, “The Rights of Nature: A New Paradigm for Biodiversity and Climate System Protection?”
The CBD, signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 alongside the Climate Change Convention and effective since 1993, aims to conserve biodiversity and promote the sustainable use of its components. To meet these goals, it obligates signatory states to adopt and implement national biodiversity strategies and action plans and to identify elements of biodiversity. While targets and milestones have been set over the years to achieve these aims, many have not been met. In response, the Kunming-Montreal COP15 established the Global Biodiversity Framework to address these shortfalls.
Given the degradation of biodiversity, several countries have implemented different strategies, some incorporating Indigenous perspectives. In 2008, Ecuador recognized nature as a rights-bearing entity in its Constitution, sparking an international movement to grant rights to nature—such as rights to exist, to protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration—either as a whole or to specific elements within it.
IIDMA has analyzed what these rights entail and their implications, as well as cases where ecosystems are given legal personhood. The report examines key cases: Ecuador and Bolivia, which recognize nature’s rights in full, and specific ecosystem cases, such as Colombia’s Atrato River, New Zealand’s Whanganui River, India’s Ganges and Yamuna Rivers, Lake Erie in the United States, and Spain’s Mar Menor. It also evaluates existing limitations and obstacles to recognizing nature’s rights within Spanish and European regulatory, institutional, and cultural contexts. “The proliferation of regulations and court rulings related to nature’s rights calls for a calm analysis of their practical effectiveness,” notes IIDMA Director and report author Ana Barreira.
The report “The Rights of Nature: A New Paradigm for Biodiversity and Climate System Protection?” is the first to emphasize what legal personhood of an ecosystem means, underlining that this status involves not only rights but also obligations—something omitted in some jurisdictions.
The report highlights a significant shortfall in the enforcement, implementation, and compliance with biodiversity protection standards, signaling a failure in upholding the rule of law. It stresses the importance of avoiding duplication of resources in biodiversity protection efforts, especially during the COP16 for the Convention on Biological Diversity. “For example, the right to conservation, a core objective of the CBD requiring management plans for nature protection, is already embedded in many directives: the EU’s Water Framework Directive requires river basin management plans, and the Habitats Directive calls for management plans for certain habitats and species. Thus, we must ask whether recognizing nature’s rights will bring progress or if the required institutional framework could clash with the current legal-institutional framework,” Barreira explains. “Creating custodianship roles under the banner of nature’s rights would require resources, which institutions already tasked with protecting nature currently lack,” she adds. The mobilization of financial resources is also a key focus of COP16.
The lack of training for the judiciary in environmental and climate matters is another obstacle to the correct enforcement of these standards, given the complexity of cases reaching the courts—a concern IIDMA has emphasized for some time.
