Giving the River Clyde a Legal Personality

Professor Louise Welsh and Jude Barber on behalf of The Empire Café, lodged a Petition with the Scottish Parliament, Petitions Committee on 13 December 2024 - PE2131: Grant Scottish rivers, including the River Clyde, the legal right to personhood. The Petition has 446 signatures. In summary, the Petition calls:<br/><br/>… on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to grant the River Clyde, and potentially other rivers in Scotland, the legal right to personhood by:<br/>• adopting the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Rivers<br/>• appointing a Nature Director to act as a guardian of the River Clyde, with the responsibility for upholding its river rights<br/>• considering whether an alternative mechanism should be established to act for the rights of the river, its inhabitants (human and non-human), and society at large.<br/><br/>The article considers the background to giving a river a legal personality and then considers whether this does give the river better protection.