Whale Personhood

Why stop there?

Photo by Aaim Zameer on Unsplash

An interesting thing happened at the UN Ocean’s Conference in Nice earlier this month. Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first. Here are some of the highlights:

Multilateralism - Over170 countries adopted a political declaration to conserve and sustainably use the ocean. This represents the vast majority of the 195 countries in the world.

Focus on science - Over 2,000 scientists were at the conference to ground the proceedings in scientific fact. This wasn’t just a politician gab fest.

International Law - Marine Biodiversity Treaty got a boost, with 19 new signatories of the agreement to protect two-thirds of the ocean. The treaty creates a new mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from activities with respect to marine genetic resources - plant and animal life.

Another topic discussed at the conference was the “I’m a person too” movement, which advocates for legal personhood for whales.

I wrote about this more broadly about a year ago, but thought the topic could use an update. Organizations like the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature are attempting to ensure that nature – trees, oceans, animals, mountains – have rights just as human beings have rights. They aim to get humans to ensure that nature is granted these rights and that these rights are enforced. Organizations like the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund are attempting to work with communities to ensure nature has the rights it needs to thrive.

In 2021, the Muteshekau Shipu (Magpie River) in Québec’s Côte-Nord region was made a legal “person” by the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and the Minganie Regional County Municipality. This was done to protect the waters of the river, and the people and wildlife that depend on the river.

Other 'entities' have been granted legal capacity, such as the Whanganui River in New Zealand.

In September 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to place the Rights of Nature in its constitution. Bolivia has also established Rights of Nature laws.

Tamaqua Borough in Pennsylvania was the first community in the United States to enact the Rights of Nature. Since then, dozens of communities have adopted such laws. In November 2010, the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became the first major municipality in the United States to recognize the Rights of Nature.

Back to the whales.

This came to my attention again due to the great writing of Luke McMillan, over at Ocean Rising here on Substack. You can read his: I’m

A Person Too. the Legal Revolution That Could Save Whales. I suggest you read the whole thing yourself, but this bit from Luke’s essay should give you an idea of the legal ramifications:

If whales were granted legal personhood, it would change the legal landscape in profound ways. Harpoons, ship strikes, acoustic trauma and captivity would no longer be administrative matters or conservation statistics. They would become violations of rights.

Personhood would allow lawsuits to be filed on behalf of individual whales or populations. Guardians could be appointed to represent their interests in court. It would shift the burden of proof, requiring governments and industries to justify their actions rather than assuming the right to exploit.

Don’t put a price on nature. Value it.

This idea of legal rights for whales (and other parts of nature) is an important one. Currently, the finance industry is tripping over itself to price nature, but that does not mean they are valuing it. In her recent book, The Value of a Whale, Adrienne Buller critiques the financial world for working hard to put a price tag on the value of a whale ($2 million) in an effort to commodify nature, while at the same time not valuing nature as a common good that needs to be protected.

If you leave it to the bankers to run the world, everything will have a price, but nothing will have value.

In most jurisdictions around the world, corporations are considered “persons”. This means that these corporations are legally independent entities with rights and can be held accountable separately from the people who work for these corporations. Alternative legal structures for corporations do exist and some have argued that corporations should not be granted personhood and should instead be seen as a nexus of contracts, or some other legal form.

“Corporations are people my friend”

The argument of whether corporations should be considered “persons” is a whole different blog, and one I imagine exists somewhere else on Substack. You can argue for or against it. (I’m a fan of Nexus of Contracts myself), but the point here is to look at the corporate personhood framework to see if something like it could work for nature.

What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of corporate personhood?

Benefits

• Corporate personhood allows corporations to:

• Allows for easier taxation and regulation.

• Simplifies transactions, contracts, and other legal agreements.

• Protects rights of shareholders/owners.

• Can sue and be sued, and other legal benefits.

• Can play a societal cultural role through interactions with society.

Drawbacks

• Too much power can be concentrated in corporations, leading to legislative and regulatory capture.

• Their wealth often allows their speech and actions to dominate other players on an issue.

• Lack of morality. A corporation’s first duty is seen to be to shareholders. A corporation often has no incentive to be a “good neighbor”.

• Personhood should be reserved for citizens.

If our society has legally embraced corporate personhood, I don’t see any reason why whales, our mountains, our rivers and other parts of the natural world should not be granted personhood as well. Part of the idea for corporate personhood was to allow corporations to enjoy the benefits of personhood. What’s good for the corporation should be good for the gander - literally. Either only physical persons should be “persons” or everything should be. I’m fine taking away corporate personhood. But if we are going to keep it, the whales get to be people too.

Building a coalition.

Finally, I invite people to think about whales as part of the coalition being built to move to a post-growth economic system. Not just whales of course, but all nature that is already receiving legal rights, as was mentioned above; and eventually more parts of our natural world.

If you think it is ridiculous that animals, who can’t speak, can’t vote, and can’t express their own desires should be included in a coalition, I want to introduce you to some of the most powerful members of a coalition in America who can’t speak, can’t vote and can’t express their own desires.

Unborn children.

Unborn children have been drafted into the anti-abortion coalition in the United States that has helped the opponents of abortion get their way politically and legally even though most Americans believe that abortion should be legal in most cases.

The anti-abortion crowd has made unborn children members of their coalition for decades, and even though most American’s don’t agree with them, they have won in much of America - at least for now.

So, don’t get worried about forming a coalition with rivers, forests, whales, and the rest of nature that we need and needs us. They would thank you if they could. I think it’s safe to say that whales don’t start wars and don’t destroy the global environment just so they can benefit in the long-term. It turns out, whales are better people than many people.

Finally, if you are interested, you can sign the petition to add your voice to the call to grant personhood to whales.