Now rivers have the same legal status as people, we must uphold their rights

This article by Ashish Kothari, Mari Margil, and Shrishtee Bajpai originally appeared in, The Guardian on April 21, 2017

Several geographically-distant but related events signalled a dramatic mind shift in humanity’s troubled relationship with nature last month. First, the New Zealand parliament passed the Te Awa Tupua Act, giving the Whanganui River and ecosystem a legal standing in its own right, guaranteeing its “health and well-being”.

Shortly after, a court in India ruled that the Ganges and Yamuna rivers and their related ecosystems have “the status of a legal person, with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities … in order to preserve and conserve them”. MORE…