Legislation that provides nature the same rights as humans gains traction in some countries – By Ben Tracy & Kerry Breen (CBS News) / Dec 9, 2023
We’ve all heard of human rights and civil rights, but what about the rights of nature? A growing global movement is working to give plants, animals and ecosystems some of the same legal protections as humans, and in some countries, it’s leading to new legislation.
Panama is one of the only nations in the world with a country-wide rights of nature law. The legislation was just used to help shut down one of the largest copper mines in the world.
Callie Veelenturf was the driving force behind the law. The 31-year-old Massachusetts native is a marine biologist who has been studying sea turtles for almost a decade. Veelenturf is a National Geographic explorer who founded the Leatherback Project, which tracks and protects the giant but endangered turtle species. The leatherbacks are threatened by fishing nets, rising seas that erode their nesting beaches and plastic pollution.
