‘Rights of Nature’ Is a Faux Rights Revolution Entangled in Anthropocentrism

Subject: Environment

Section: Art and Culture

Context:

In three recent cases, the Madras and the Uttarakhand high courts invoked parens patriae to confer rights on natural elements like rivers and glaciers.

What is Parenspatrie?

Parens patriae conceives of nature as a perpetual minor, thus cementing the authority of the same state whose failure to implement existing laws properly led to the environmental crisis.
On April 19, 2022, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court, in A. Periyakaruppan v. the Principal Secretary, invoked the jurisdiction of parens patriae and declared ‘Mother Nature’ to be a living being with all the rights, duties and liabilities corresponding to a living person, to preserve and conserve them.
Parens patriae is Latin for “parent of the nation”. In law, it refers to the state’s power to intervene against a bad parent, guardian or caretaker and assume responsibility for any child or individual in need of protection.
The two judgments of the Uttarakhand high court declaring the rivers Ganga and Yamuna and Himalayan glaciers as legal persons also summarise the jurisprudence on the rights of rivers in India.
However, citing administrative and implementation challenges, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of both judgments.
New Zealand achieved the representation of the legal personality of the river Whanganui through the Office of the Whanganui River (TePouTupua), which includes representatives of the Crown as well as Indigenous communities.