In the Bavarian constitution, it would only be a small adjustment, says Hans Leo Bader – the effect, however, is about a fundamental change in the system and “the question of how we want to live together”. Bader initiated the referendum “Rights of Nature” and has been collecting signatures in Bavaria together with fellow campaigners since September. The goal: nature should have its own rights – every citizen could then sue them in court. It’s not about starting a process for every felled tree, says Bader. “But we have a legal system that sees nature as an object.” So if specifically the Isar had rights, everyone could take legal action against its pollution without being affected by the effects.
To achieve their goal, the members of the “Rights of Nature” initiative work together with constitutional lawyers on an international level. According to Bader, only about 15 people are actively involved in the network, but the project has several major supporters: the German Environmental Foundation, for example, on whose board Bader himself is active, or economist and politician Alberto Acosta Espinosa; he is the project’s patron and comes from Ecuador. There the rights of nature were written into the constitution in 2008.
Talks are also being held with the Misereor aid organization to get the churches on board. The initiative needs 25,000 signatures to get through the petition for a referendum – “but we will only submit when we have a lot more,” says Bader. One must first become known now.
Bader speaks of a “huge task” – he is nevertheless optimistic. Because he has no doubts that something has to change in terms of environmental protection. “People need something to hold on to,” he believes. Climate agreements that are not legally binding, requirements such as the 1.5-degree target that humanity can no longer meet: “I think we are in a phase in which people are fed up with it.” Bader compares the situation with the update of an operating system, which politicians urgently need when it comes to climate change.
Bavaria should only be the beginning. Preparations are currently underway for further referendums in Berlin and Baden-Württemberg. In the end, it should then be about the Basic Law, that is the most important goal of the initiative: It should be supplemented by the rights of nature. It should become a legal person, just as companies can in Germany. The change then has to be reflected in laws, says Bader, in order to have an effect.
The initiator of the referendum came across the topic at the end of 2017. After reading an article on the rights of plants, he says: “At first I thought it was funny, then I started researching.” After all, he teamed up with Klaus Bosselmann, author, professor of environmental law in New Zealand and board member of numerous groups for the protection of nature. Bader also has to do with environmental protection professionally, as an ecological project developer he is committed to the construction of sustainable houses and apartments, he is also active in the ÖDP in Munich. He was also involved in the successful Bavarian referendum “Save the bees” in 2019.
One does not want to rush ahead too quickly with the referendum on natural rights. In Bavaria alone, collecting the signatures will take several years, says Bader. Because: “Such a system change has to be lived.” At the moment they are still at the beginning with a few tens of signatures. As a next step, a tour through the big cities of Bavaria is planned for the coming year. “We want to come into direct contact with people who will then pass on the idea,” says Bader. In the end, he emphasizes, people would benefit from granting nature its own rights. After all, it is about maintaining their livelihood.