Subjectivity of nature in international law: Between fiction and reality

Abstract

The harmful impacts of climate change threaten to destroy the planet's biodiversity and damage many ecosystems. Therefore, the idea was revitalized among experts that nature should be given international subjectivity in order to enable its existence and to protect its rights. The article presents the history of the idea of nature becoming a legal entity, then discusses what is meant by the term "rights of nature" and how this term is regulated in international instruments. It also gives an overview on how the law of nature is regulated at the national level in the countries that have so far regulated this issue and recognized the subjectivity of nature. It points to the climate lawsuits that have been initiated, in which the issue of nature rights has been raised. Finally, it addresses the challenges of potentially assigning subjectivity to nature. The author advocates the idea of recognizing nature's subjectivity and that there are already certain grounds for that in international law.

Keywords

• environment
• nature rights
• climate change
• legal subjectivity
• climate litigation