Canadian Town Grants Trees Legal Rights

The town of Terrasse-Vaudreuil in Québec, Canada, unanimously approved a resolution recognizing trees’ rights to live, grow, and regenerate. This makes the municipality the first in the world to formally adopt the Universal Declaration of Tree Rights, a document created by French author Ricardo Rey and supported by La Compagnie des Papillons Bleus.

The decision followed a local screening of a documentary about trees and a petition to international bodies garnering over 87,000 signatures. Mayor Michel Bourdeau stated the town will revise regulations to protect trees and increase forest cover by offering trees to residents.

The initiative builds on a growing legal trend of granting rights to nature, previously applied to rivers and ecosystems in places like New Zealand and Colombia. The town’s move is unique in recognizing individual trees, not just entire ecosystems, as entities deserving of protection for their ecological contributions. It also opens discussion about including non-human entities in local governance.