Summary
On September 30, 2022, Spain passed a national law granting legal personhood to the Mar Menor lagoon and its basin, making it the first ecosystem in Europe to attain the legal status as subject with its own rights. Law 19/2022 provides the Mar Menor lagoon with the legal, scientific, and institutional tools to defend itself, and offers a replicable model for rights-based ecosystem protection in Europe.
Background:
The law was the result of a citizen-led initiative (Iniciativa Legislativa Popular – ILP). In 2020, legal scholar Teresa Vicente Giménez, in collaboration with several NGOs, drafted and promoted a citizens’ initiative to recognize the Mar Menor lagoon and its basin as a legal person with “rights to protection, conservation, maintenance, and, where appropriate, restoration.” By August 2021, the initiative had gathered more than half a million signatures—surpassing the threshold required to trigger a parliamentary vote. In April 2022, Spain’s Parliament approved the proposed law by a vote of 274–53, followed by the Senate’s decisive endorsement on September 21, with a vote of 230 in favor and 3 against. The enactment of this law formally recognized the Mar Menor and its basin as a legal person, marking the first ecosystem in Europe to be granted legal rights under a Western legal system.
Jurisprudential Framing:
Law 19/2022 establishes a landmark precedent in Europe by recognizing an ecosystem as a rights-bearing legal entity and affirming the capacity of citizens to participate directly in its defense. The law represents a shift from conventional environmental regulation toward an ecocentric model of active stewardship. It articulates four fundamental rights of the Mar Menor: the rights to exist and evolve naturally, and the rights to protection, conservation, and restoration. Articles III and IV establish the lagoon’s governance structure—comprising a Committee of Representatives, a Scientific Committee, and a Monitoring Commission—tasked with acting as legal guardians and representing the ecosystem in administrative and judicial processes. Importantly, the law also grants any natural person standing to defend and enforce the Mar Menor’s rights, significantly broadening legal access and accountability mechanisms.
Enforcement:
In August 2023, a local court applied the law in a legal proceeding against environmental damage from landfill discharges, granting the Mar Menor (through its Guardians) the right to appear as civil parties in court, empowering multiple NGOs and municipalities to act on its behalf. In November 2024, Spain’s Constitutional Court reaffirmed its constitutional validity in the face of political opposition, making it the first case in the EU to enshrine Rights of Nature at a constitutional level.
What Happened Since?
In 2024, Teresa Vicente Giménez received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in advancing the Mar Menor law—the first time Rights of Nature work was honored with the award. In May 2025, the Mar Menor ecosystem officially received a tax ID (NIF), bank account, and functioning governance organs (the three committees), enabling operational independence and resource management.
In May 2026, the Mar Menor will serve as a civil plaintiff in a landmark case against an agricultural company accused of pollution, marking an unprecedented development in environmental justice in Europe. In parallel, Mar Menor will be the first natural entity in Europe to bring a claim before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging violations of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and other provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Impact Statement
The passage of the 2022 Mar Menor law established a landmark precedent as the first ecosystem in Europe to be recognized as a legal person. By enshrining rights of protection, conservation, and restoration into national law, it demonstrated the viability of rights-based legislation to address ecological crises, and the power of community-driven processes. The law has since inspired similar initiatives across Europe, including proposals for the Venice Lagoon and the Mediterranean Sea, positioning Mar Menor as a catalyst for a broader movement to integrate rights of nature into European legal and policy systems.
Involved Organizations
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2025. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor.https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/proposed-law-for-recognition-of-legal-personality-to-the-laguna-del-mar-menor-and-its-basin/.
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