Spain: legal rights for Mar Menor ecosystem in European first

The Spanish Congress of Deputies has voted, by overwhelming majority (only one party voting against), to give the green light to a Popular Legislative Initiative assigning legal status to the Mar Menor, Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon.  This vote triggers the process to pass a law granting the lagoon its own rights, making it the first European ecosystem to be protected in this way.

Campaigners describe it as a “milestone in the relationship between human beings and nature”, shifting the Mar’s status from an object in the service of humans to a “legal person” just as individuals and companies are.  Significantly, Teresa Vicente, a university professor and spokesperson for the initiative, will shortly be travelling to New York to present the PLI to the United Nations General Assembly.  The proposal was driven by a grassroots mobilisation of thousands, forcing parliamentarians to take action addressing the ongoing “ecocide” suffered by this unique ecosystem. 

The final stage of the legislative process will take place in the Parliament's Ecological Transition Committee, where amendments to the text can be made (not undermining the spirit of the initial proposal) and it will be passed by “urgent procedure”.

This legislative move could pave the way towards a complementary protective criminal law  i.e. a crime of ecocide. 

To read more about Mar Menor, visit our guest blog.