ABSTRACT
In the year 2022, Spain declared the Mar Menor—the largest saltwater lagoon in Europe—a legal entity. This was the first time that such rights were granted by any Member State of the EU; rights of nature (RoN) still remain a conceptual novelty. This chapter attempts to provide an approach to RoN in the existing human rights law relevant to the EU. In doing so, it can rely on a steadily growing number of national legal acts providing for RoN but also on international developments. In a first step (A.), it will be shown that human rights and RoN are by no means in opposition but complement each other to create comprehensive protection of human as well as nonhuman entities. Secondly (B.), it will be examined how European law opens up to nonhuman demands in substantive (B.I.) and procedural (B.II.) terms. In particular, the brief conclusion at the end of the chapter includes desirable next steps for strengthening RoN in Europe.
