Panama: nature to become a subject of law

Panama has joined Ecuador, Colombia and New Zealand, among others, as one of the leading nations which, in various ways, recognise the rights of nature.  With the approval of law no. 287 Panama has signed into law the acknowledgment of nature as a subject of rights, defining nature as “a unique, indivisible and self-regulating community of living beings, elements and ecosystems interrelated to each other that sustains, contains and reproduces all beings.” 

Some of the detailed rights include the “right to exist, persist and regenerate its life cycles,” the “right to conserve its biodiversity,” and the “right to be restored after being affected directly or indirectly by any human activity.”

The law mandates consideration of these rights in government policy including development programmes and promotion of them in foreign policy, making Panama a leading voice on this issue - and, we trust, paving the way for support of the criminalisation of ecocide to protect those newly assigned rights.