"Rights of the Ocean Need to be Explored" - Cook Islands Prime Minister

http://sprep.org/biodiversity-ecosystems-management/qrights-of-the-ocean-need-to-be-exploredq-cook-islands-prime-minister

7 June 2017, UN Ocean Conference, New York - The Cook Islands has growing support in its call to explore the rights of the ocean as a legal person, during the UN Ocean Conference underway in New York this week.

First done by Ecuador in 2008, giving nature – its mountains, rivers, forests, air, and islands legally enforceable rights to "exist, flourish and evolve"; New Zealand also gave the Whanganui River legal rights this year after 140 years of negotiation; courts in India also followed suit granting the Ganges and Yamuna rivers the same rights as human beings.