Netherlands Archives - Women Speak

Campaigners want the North Sea to be given legal rights. How would it work?

The Embassy of the North Sea in The Hague, founded in 2018, is fighting to get the legal rights of the North Sea recognized. The group’s director of communications, Christiane Bosman, states that the main purpose of the Embassy is to increase public support for the rights of nature in the North Sea and give the Dutch government ‘concrete proposals’ on how to do so, by 2030. From 1969 to 2017, the North Sea’s average surface temperature has risen by 1.3 degrees Celsius. Currently, Dutch civil law does not recognize or grant legal personhood to nature. Only humans possess the legal right to sue in environmental matters. Legal expert and UN advisor for the Rights of Nature, Laura Burgers, notes that the Embassy’s work is centered on recognizing the sea as a living being that can make decisions, and should be allowed to have a say it what is allowed and not allowed to happen to it, i.e. fishing practices or fossil fuel extraction. This case is one of hundreds all over the world, as many other places are fighting to have important ecological regions granted their rights. Photo Credit: Paul Einerhand/Unsplash

2022 Goldman Prize Winner: Marjan Minnesma

Aparna Packer2025-03-24T22:42:22-04:00Tags: Netherlands|

Marjan Minnesma, born and raised outside of Amsterdam, served as the director for the Institute of Transitions before establishing Urgenda in 2007, working on innovative climate solutions. Despite all EU member states adopting targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions in 2010, the Dutch government ignored its commitments. Minnesma fought to hold her government accountable, arguing that the government put citizens in harm's way due to its inaction and ignored its legal obligation, “duty to care.” In November 2012, Minnesma held a seminar for elected officials and journalists, hoping they would act on climate change, but to no avail. Mainnesma later wrote a letter demanding a 40% reduction in greenhouse gasses (GHG) by 2020. The government responded that it did not want to be a ‘front runner’ in mitigating climate change. In November 2013, Urgenda filed a lawsuit against the government, supported by crowdfunding and citizen science, to reiterate the demand for the government to cut GHG emissions. In June 2015, the Hague’s district court ruled that the Dutch government breached its duty of care as it failed to protect its citizens from climate change. Going against public opinion, the Dutch government appealed on 29 counts. In October 2018, the courts upheld the June 2015 ruling, but the government appealed again, sending the case to the Supreme Court. Urgenda published 54 concrete measures that the government could adopt to reduce greenhouse gasses by 25%. In December 2019, the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ decisions, forcing the government to cut emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by the end of 2020. Marjan Minnesma was awarded the 2022 Goldman Prize for her work.