UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Speaking for Nature

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1057/9781137538956_7

Authors

Mihnea Tănăsescu

Reported year

2016

Reported language

en

Source type

book-chapter

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.974776+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:06:31.051946+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Reported affiliation countries

BE

Documentary abstract — original language

Though modeled on human rights, the only successful applications of the rights of nature to-day have been domestic. There has never been a case of the rights of nature being protected against a state, and though the absence of such a case does not prove anything, nor would its existence prove that the contradiction between universality and belonging, which is inherent in rights themselves, would have disappeared. The first protection of the rights of nature in a court of law happened in Ecuador. There, the Vilcabamba river won a lawsuit against the provincial government which had approved a project of road expansion adjacent to its banks, without carrying out an environmental assessment. The flow of the river was modified by the dumping of gravel, rock, trees, and other material excavated on the site, narrowing its width and thereby quadrupling its flow. This caused significant erosion and flooding to the lands downriver when the spring rains came. When the provincial government began dumping anew, the landowners sued. Instead of pursuing the case on the basis of property rights, the plaintiffs invoked the recently constitutionalized rights of nature. (Daly, 2012, p. 63) The provincial court of Loja vindicated nature’s constitutional rights, and awarded damages to the river directly, together with a host of other measures, including a public apology by the culprits, to be published in a daily newspaper. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W2479604109

DOI

10.1057/9781137538956_7

OPENAIRE

doi_dedup___::5399e1461dce2ef4226759380a8a52e8

Documentary context

Documentary family

Book chapter

Source-reported types

Part of book or chapter of book · book-chapter

Natural entities mentioned

River

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Book bibliographic description

Access status unknown

Sources

OpenAIRE · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137538956_7
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2479604109

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

2 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.