Summary
In 2020, professor of philosophy of law Teresa Vincente Giménez, backed by several NGOs, helped draft and propose a law recognizing “that the Mar Menor and its basin have rights to protection, conservation, maintenance, and, where appropriate, restoration…” The law gives the Mar Menor—a lagoon located in Murcia, Spain—a legal personality. By August 2021, the advocates collected half a million signatures to gain a parliamentary vote on the initiative. In April of 2022, the Spanish parliament voted 274 to 53 to ratify the law granting Mar Menor legal personhood. On July 13, 2022, the Commission of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of the Congress of Deputies approved the law, sending it to Spain’s Senate for ratification. The Senate overwhelming approved the law on September 21, 2022, by a vote of 230 in favor and 3 against, officially making the Mar Menor lagoon and its basin a legal person. This marks the first ecosystem in Europe to be enshrined with legal rights under a western system of law. Articles III and IV of the law assign legal guardianship and representation for the Lagoon to Public Administration, with support from the local community, scientific committees, and a monitoring commission, in addition to empowering any natural person the ability to enforce the enumerated rights of Mar Menor (page 4-5).