Granting Rights to Nature: Environmental Personhood in the U.S. and Worldwide

This project explores the concept of granting legal personhood to natural environments, with a focus on the Clark Fork River in Missoula, Montana. Granting legal personhood rights to the environment has been used around the world to recognize and protect rivers, mountains, and other environmental entities. However, the U.S. legal systems have been slow to adopt this approach. This research essay examines why the U.S. has been lagging, analyzes foreign legal frameworks that have granted personhood to environmental entities and examines if any could be adapted to grant rights and protections to the Clark Fork River. The research process involves an extensive literature review of environmental law, case studies of international environmental personhood (such as the Whanganui River in New Zealand), environmental personhood cases in the U.S. (such as the failed Lake Erie Bill of Rights and Colorado River Ecosystem failed personhood lawsuit), and an analysis of the ecological and cultural significance of the Clark Fork River. Additionally, potential legal conflicts, such as property rights and regulatory challenges, are considered to assess the feasibility of implementing river personhood in Montana. Preliminary findings suggest that a personhood framework could provide stronger legal protections for rivers in Montana, particularly due to Native American cultural connections and current legislation special to Montana (Montana constitution and Held vs the State of Montana). This research is significant because it bridges law, international environmental policy, and Indigenous perspectives to propose innovative legal solutions. As climate change and resource exploitation threaten ecosystems, this work contributes to broader discussions on sustainable environmental governance. By presenting this research at UMCUR, I aim to engage scholars and policymakers in rethinking how the law can evolve to protect vital natural resources like the Clark Fork River.