Volume 3 as documentary at ARTE

8 February 2023

Tanja Busse, Writer in Residence at the Centre, has written the script for an ARTE documentary in the series "42 - The Answer to Almost Everything."

"Can Seals Go to Court?"

Does nature have rights - and if so, can it take them to court? We humans are causing a mass extinction of species right now. Shouldn't animals, plants, rivers and ecosystems be able to defend themselves? This is already possible in Ecuador, where a rainforest has won in court and is allowed to keep its mineral resources. What would something like that mean for us?
If we are attacked, we can go to court and fight back. According to biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber, this must also be possible for animals and plants. Biological research has shown, for example, that animals are just as sensitive and sensitive to pain as we are.
But to give nature rights, we would have to change our laws. That is possible, says legal scholar Saskia Stucki. The law has always changed. Women, blacks and children also had to fight for their rights. There was resistance to this at first, but today it is completely normal.
Ecuador is the first country in the world whose constitution grants nature its own rights. There, an initiative recently defended itself in court against mining activities in a rainforest - successfully. Alberto Acosta worked on this constitution and explains how it combines modern legal concepts with the traditional understanding of nature of Ecuador's indigenous people.
Biologist Sandra Luque warns that entire ecosystems could collapse if we don't protect them better. And time is of the essence, Luque says: "We are in a mass extinction of species like the last time 66 million years ago. And it is we humans who are causing this extinction. If nature were given rights, that would ultimately be good for us. Even if we would have to change some of our habits."

(available in the ARTE Mediathek until 28.01.2024)

The film emerged from the research for volume 3 of our book series "Futures of Sustainability": "Welche Rechte braucht die Natur? Wege aus dem Artensterben", edited by Frank Adloff and Tanja Busse.