The Rights of Nature is a global movement that views nature not as something that we own, but as something that has rights. There are many important parts of this movement, but one of the most important is water. It is said that water is likely to be the most pressing environmental concern of the next century.
Bangladesh recently took the unprecedented step of giving rights to all its rivers. The Bangladeshi Supreme Court has said that anyone who harms a river will be tried as if they’re harming a living entity because each river has the right to life. People who damage the river can be taken to court by a government-appointed national river conservation commission.
But of course, there are some problems. One of them is that once a river gets rights, what about all the people who live off of it? What about fishing communities, waterfront homes, or people in poverty who rely on the river? It’s unclear what kind of answers these questions will get. What is clear though, is that Bangladesh is at the forefront of the environmental conservation movement.