Water bodies, especially rivers can easily be polluted by industrial waste. Image source: Shutterstock (#505249735) pictures bank of Ganges and Yamuna.
Two rivers in India were recently declared “living entities”, effectively granting them the same rights as regular persons. Polluting the rivers thus amounts to harming a human being. This decision follows a similar bill passed by the New Zealand parliament.
Both rulings mark important institutional steps toward fighting pollution of river waters and their surroundings all over the world. When deposing of one’s trash in a river is considered a crime against the river itself, people might think more thoroughly about their economic dependence on rivers.
These changes in legislation might just be the beginning of a movement to redefine the legal status of critical natural assets.
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