Aruba Embraces the Rights of Nature and a Human Right to a Clean Environment
Katie Surma, a writer for Inside Climate News, sheds light on the latest developments regarding the incorporation of the human right to a healthy environment and the Rights of Nature into Aruba’s constitution. Stressing the interdependence between humans and the natural world, the proposed constitutional amendment promotes both the human right to a healthy environment and nature’s right to protections, including conservation, the restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity, and the regeneration of its life cycles. If successful, this would make Aruba the second state after Ecuador to include the Rights of Nature in its constitution. Roughly thirty nations currently have some form of recognition of the Rights of Nature. Furthermore, this would mark the first change to Aruba’s constitution since its separation from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986, although Aruba remains a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the Dutch government overseeing foreign affairs and defense. Given Aruba’s economy is largely dependent on tourism, the ecosystem holds particular importance, though tourism has also introduced new challenges such as waste management, overfishing, and plastic pollution.