The Rights of Nature

I heartily recommend this intriguing book about laws and consequences. If at one time enslaved peoples, women and non-landowners did not have legal status as persons with rights, but now they do, what is the logical progression? The author shows how cases have been brought to try to grant rights, legal person status and other issues on behalf of primates, orcas and other creatures, even to the Great Barrier Reef. We get a chapter on the various intelligences of these animals and birds, with fascinating studies and examples.

While much of the book focuses on USA with the snail darter habitat being destroyed by damming and the spotted owl being placed at risk of extermination by logging, moving forward to the corporate bullying of fracking and factory farming, other nations are studied too. India, with the Asiatic lion and the grotesquely polluted sacred river Ganja, Costa Rica and Ecuador with constitutional changes to protect rainforest habitat, Bolivia seeing a lake dry up as the glaciers that fed it have vanished due to climate change, Bolivia deciding to exploit its lithium lakes wisely by itself rather than sell the right to mine, Canada with wildlife issues and New Zealand with Maori interpretations of land use rather than ownership are the major areas visited.

A chapter looks at the history of making laws and international agreements in favour of wildlife, responsible animal care, land preservation and biodiversity conservation. From the founding of Greenpeace in 1971 to the Rio Earth Summit, we see the march of international awareness that nature is being destroyed and needs to be cherished. Extinct is forever.

Narwhal tusks rather than elephant ivory are shown to represent the trade in pieces of endangered animals. In this case as with abuse of domestic pets we see that the laws do not contain what most of us would now regard as sufficient punishment. The European Union laws are mentioned as being extremely strict, such as forbidding antibiotics to be used on animals unless to treat illnesses, and banning caged chickens. Standards may have improved slowly but the EU can be credited with removing many draconian abuses of women as well as animals and waterways.

The individuals with vision include lawyers, judges, scientists, environmentalists and farmers as well as native communities. And it's lovely to read of successes - probably due to public opinion rather than legal pressure - such as a company experimenting on chimpanzees which had resisted calls of habeas corpus, finally giving in and sending more than 200 chimps to a sanctuary.

I can strongly recommend The Rights Of Nature to students of law, natural history, environmental campaigns; and human rights. Because the right to clean water, clean air, and a clean natural environment, with wildlife preserved for future generations to enjoy, is a strong element of winning court battles. The writing style is fluid and fact-filled, suitable for a second level student with an interest in the issues, though the lengthy legal disputes are best for third level students or other interested adults. I would have liked some photographs and graphs.

I downloaded an ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

Notes and references are on pages 235 - 250 in my e-ARC. I counted 40 names that I could be sure were female.
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