A Failed Attempt: The Misinterpretation of Environmental Personhood by Indian Courts

Abstract

    Another theory that has developed parallel to anthropocentrism is ‘ecocentrism’. Under the purview of this, all nature is accorded intrinsic value. It propagates that the natural world must be protected because it has intrinsic value, beyond its instrumentality. This intrinsic value may be expressed and recognized in diverse ways. One of such ways is environmental personhood. Many countries, under this theory have accorded rights to nature by way of statutes or judicial pronouncements. India tried to instill an ecocentric jurisprudence in the year 2017 when the Uttarakhand High Court gave out a judgment granting personhood to 2 rivers, Ganga and Yamuna While this judgment was lauded as a progressive step in the direction of environmental conservation, it was later revoked by the Supreme Court due to the practical impossibility of its implementation. The question that arises here is that why did India fail while other nations, who took a similar path, may have been successful to some extent?

Keywords- A Failed Attempt,  Misinterpretation, Environmental Personhood, Indian Courts.