A NEED FOR NATURE REFORMS IN INDIA

MOVING TOWARDS A RIGHTS BASED APPROACH

Abstract

Worldwide, there has been an increasing body of legislation, jurisprudence, and political declarations challenging the current archetype and recognizing certain rights to nature. Nature, just like humans are also living beings and should be treated as subjects before the law. The rights of nature is a legal and jurisprudential theory, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights, which seeks to extend these rights to nature and ecosystems as well.  Nature is described as property under the law. This article aims to focus on the need to pave a way to guarantee rights to nature to balance our stake as a step towards sustainable development. Nature is fundamental to the existence of the planet Earth and not just a mere property to be exploited for human desires. The article also aims to outline the Indian Constitutional mandate of the proposed approach to new legal frameworks.

Keywords: Rights to nature, Sustainable Development, Legal Framework, Property, Constitutional Mandate