The rights of nature: An alternative theory to environmental law

In addition to human-induced ecological crises having the potential to destroy life on earth and causing many problems in health, economy, and social equality, the raising of ecological awareness brought the subject of nature protection in law into question. The fact that environmental law and generally modern law cannot adequately protect nature due to its anthropocentric and economy-centered nature and its inability to eliminate ecological crises and threats has provided an ecological criticism of the law. The rights of nature, which emerged as an alternative understanding of nature protection based on the culture of indigenous peoples in various lands and ecological criticism, means the recognition of natural beings or nature as beings with several rights in legal orders. From pre-modern social codes which regulate only certain class has privileges to modern laws that everyone is a right holder, the concept of right has constantly transformed, expanded, strengthened and become concrete, both with the impacts of jurists and social struggles. Recently, animal rights have been discussed and recognized in many countries. The concept of the rights of nature accepts ecosystems which are considered "inanimate", in the service of human beings, replaceable and changeable for economic reasons, to have their own values apart from human benefits, and therefore can be protected as right holders. Social structures and legal systems based on anthropocentrism of the Western philosophical tradition and the destruction of nature by modern economic systems prepare for a radical change with the rights of nature. The rights of nature represent a legal and a philosophical transformation and an environmental movement. The subject of this study is the reasons for modern law's inefficiency in nature protection, the concept of nature's rights, and how the concept is applied in law.