Upholding Nature’s Rights to Save the Mar Menor
11 noviembre 2025 |
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Once a dazzling expanse of turquoise water, the Mar Menor – Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon – had become a symbol of ecological collapse. Years of unchecked urbanisation, mining residues, and intensive agriculture turned the shallow lagoon of southeastern Spain into a greenish soup of algae and waste.
But in 2022, a movement led by Teresa Vicente, professor of philosophy of law and director of the Chair of Human Rights and Rights of Nature at the University of Murcia, achieved a revolutionary milestone in Europe: the lagoon was recognised as a legal person with its own rights to exist, regenerate, and be protected.
