Giving Rights to Trees, But Forgetting the Forests

20/25.05.2017

Dear friends,

you have seen that in my last blog I have commented on a rather abstract question, namely whether a river really becomes a "juristic/legal person/living entity" simply because a judge of a court declares it to be so. And I have also commented on the question of the practical significance of the court ruling for real environmental protection.
    In today's blog I have commented on another such abstract discussion in the same google discussion group (in which the rights of rivers discussion took place), namely  on the rights of individual non-human living beings like animals, e.g. chimpanzees, or even trees.

    I have posted it on my blog site

www.eco-socialist.blogspot.com

under the title

Giving Rights to Trees, But Forgetting the Forests

I hope you would find it interesting and request you to forward it to politically interested friends and eco-activists.

With best wishes

Saral Sarkar

Rights of Rivers? -- Are They Realizable?

29.04.2017 

Dear friends, 

in March of this year, a High Court judge of the province of Uttarakhand in north India has issued a ruling giving the rivers Ganga and Jamuna, both considered holy by the Hindus, the juristic status of a person or "living entity". That means, these rivers or their legal representatives on their behalf can sue anybody or any juristic person if they feel aggrieved and seek redress.

    Is it good news for the environment? How realistic is it that, in case of pollution of their waters, the rivers can sue the government and a court would order the latter to stop all industrial development and dam building activities in their catchment areas?

    These and other related questions are now being discussed in India. I have taken part in the discussion by means of comments and letters, which I have now published in my blog site 

www.eco-socialist.blogspot.com 

under the title  

Rights of Rivers? – Are They Realizable? 

I hope you are interested in the question and would read the texts. If you find them helpful for understanding the issues, may I request you to forward them to your political friends and other political activists?

 

With best wishes

 

Saral Sarkar