Branching out : should trees have legal personhood? - A closer look at natural objects and their legal rights

Abstract

Since the beginning of time, trees have served humankind with two fundamental pillars of human life: nutrition and oxygen (forming circa 20% of the air we breathe and is indispensable for respiration). As humans and trees evolved in unison throughout the ages, trees were discovered to provide other benefits such as shelter, tools and building materials, medicines, and paper. Currently, their value progressively increases over time, especially in the context of Malta. As shall be seen in this Dissertation, in Malta, there seems to be a common pattern. From a development planning perspective, the establishment seems to prioritise the need to develop rural and natural landscapes into municipal urban areas, disregarding the need to safeguard our natural ecosystems. Whilst on the one hand, the “Trees and Woodland Protection Regulations” gives precedence to safeguarding protected tree species, on the other hand, there seems to be a number of discrepancies in our local legislation, most often to the detriment of such trees. In turn, this poses the question as to whether or not the above legal protection regime is actually implemented in practice. This brings us to the “Rights of Nature” movement. For several years, the endowment of legal personhood to the natural world has been central to the discussions of climate change. Conceptual debates over whether trees and other natural objects should be attributed legal rights have proved practical for conservationists and reformists longing to use the law to put an end to deforestation and the destruction of the natural world. This notwithstanding, assigning rights to the natural world requires us to contemplate new relational and legislative frameworks; to re-examine and re-evaluate the trends in which nature is represented as the subject of legal disputes as well as a legal subject in itself. Subsequently, this Dissertation shall explore what it means to defend natural objects (most specifically trees) using law as a tool. In line with the “Rights of Nature” doctrine, a natural ecosystem should be entitled to the status of legal personhood. In so doing, it is empowered to be defended in a court of law (similar to a young child or an incapacitated/interdicted person) against any injustices or injuries caused, including any environmental deterioration caused by construction and development. The “Rights of Nature” movement has already received significant recognition in many States around the world, mainly the US, New Zealand, Ecuador and Bolivia. So much so, that whilst the rest of the world wages war on climate change and the exploitation of nature, the above States bravely took steps in what was previously ‘uncharted territory’ so as to afford legal personhood to the natural world. The Bolivian Government even went as far as endowing nature with legal rights equivalent to those of humans. In line with Christopher Stone’s philosophy (explained and discussed in this Dissertation), the praxis of attributing legal personhood to the natural world will be examined from legal, moral, as well as from environmental standpoints.