https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10052023/aruba-rights-nature/
"Lawmakers have taken the first steps toward amending the constitution of the
Caribbean island Aruba to include a recognition that nature possesses inherent
legal rights like the right to exist and regenerate.
If the process is successful, Aruba would become the world’s second country to
constitutionally recognize the rights of nature. Ecuador enshrined the rights
of Mother Earth, known there as Pachamama for the Andean goddess, in its 2008
constitution.
As in Ecuador, the constitutional amendment would in principle elevate the
protection that ecosystems receive beyond what is guaranteed by conventional
regulatory laws, making the rights of nature both a moral and legal imperative.
The proposed amendment, which has not yet been publicly released, must clear a
series of procedural hurdles and then be approved by two-thirds, or at least 14
members, of Aruba’s Parliament. The government of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands would then have to sign off on the measure: While Aruba became a
country in 1986 and is mostly self-governing, it has been part of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands since 1815.
Aruba’s minister of nature, Ursell Arends, said the push for the amendment
sprang from concerns about the state of the country’s ecosystems. The island’s
white sand beaches, lush mangroves, turquoise waters, coral reefs and rocky
coasts are home to species ranging from sea turtles to blue lizards and unique
bird species like the multicolored Aruban parakeet.
While the idyllic landscape has made Aruba a sought-after tourist destination,
environmental degradation from activities on and well beyond the island
threaten those fragile ecosystems."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-trachoma-benin-mali-deforestation-brazil-seine-paris/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
