Macarena Montes Franceschini and Kristen Stilt, "Animal Rights and the Rights of Nature"

Legislative and judicial advances recognizing animal rights have been modest worldwide. Montes and Stilt examine whether there is another path to gaining animal rights: the rights of nature (RoN). RoN have appeared as a response to humanity’s destruction of nature, and are steadily gaining momentum in constitutions, national legislation, and court decisions. However, the concept of RoN raises some significant challenges, including the fundamental problem of defining nature and identifying the subject of rights. The presentation examines the development of RoN and its advantages and disadvantages for obtaining rights for animals and individual animals in particular. The presentation will include attention to the case of Estrellita, a woolly monkey, in which the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court recognized individual animals as subjects of rights under the country’s constitutional RoN provision and subsequent developments in Ecuador and worldwide. This lecture is free and open to the public. Thanks to the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy for their generous support of this lecture series.