(ORDO NEWS) — It may seem strange, but, according to scientists, such a law would change a lot in the modern world.
We do not perceive the ocean as a natural environment equal to humanity in importance. But it looks like it’s time to start doing it.
The ocean covers most of our planet’s surface, produces most of the oxygen released into the atmosphere, and provides us with a significant amount of resources in the form of food, minerals and energy.
Yet our oceans are shockingly underrepresented when it comes to international environmental conventions.
The ocean is a living bein
So that ocean care goes beyond symbolic projects, scientists have decided to develop guidelines that truly ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy all the delights of the vast oceans that wash the continents of the Earth.
To do this, our relationship with the oceans must change at a fundamental level.
In a recent editorial published in PLOS Biology, a group of researchers lay out their case for a new framework that aims to do just that.
“The preservation of the status quo of environmental law is equivalent to the legal destruction of nature,” the scientists say in the article.
“International law must evolve to reflect the inalienable rights of the ocean to exist, flourish and regenerate. Ocean health is human health.”
This animation of nature is not a typo. It reflects a philosophical approach that puts our natural environment on par with humanity, rather than making it an object of exploitation.
This “mutual improvement” is a key part of the set of principles embraced by the emerging field of “Earth Rights” – a set of initiatives to recognize the interdependence that exists between people and their environment through our institutions and laws.
One such legal framework that is immediately recognizable to most is the right to exist. For most people, this is the ethical principle behind the development of laws around the world.
According to the law of the Earth, the Rights of Nature (one of the legal frameworks in the law of the Earth) recognize nature as valuable simply because of its own intrinsic value.
Not because of what it can provide as a property or exploitable resource, but simply because it is a living being in its own right.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.