Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans

Water is essential to life. Yet in the eyes of the law, it remains largely unprotected -- leaving many communities without access to safe drinking water, says legal scholar Kelsey Leonard. In this powerful talk, she shows why granting lakes and rivers legal "personhood" -- giving them the same legal rights as humans -- is the first step to protecting our bodies of water and fundamentally transforming how we value this vital resource.

Aquay Wunne Kesuk.
Kelsey Leonard Nooweesuonk.

Hello, good day, everyone.

I'm from the Shinnecock Nation.

Tabutni to the Cahuilla peoples,

whose land we gather on today.

I was taught that water is alive.

It can hear,

it holds memories.

And so I brought a water vessel
up with me today,

because I want it to hold the memories
of our conversation today.

Who gets legal rights?

History has shown us
some people but not others.

In the United States,
Indigenous peoples like myself

were not citizens
under the law until 1924.

My Shinnecock ancestors, pictured here,

were not citizens under the law.

Then why do we claim to be nations
governed by the rule of law

if some people are protected,
but not others?

Because it remains one
of the best ways to fight injustice.

And, as Indigenous people,
we know injustice.

A dear friend, mentor, water walker,

Nokomis, Grandmother
Josephine Mandamin-ba,

she told me of a prophecy
that comes from her people,

the Anishinaabe of the Midewiwin Society.

And in that prophecy,

she told me that it tells
of a day that will come

where an ounce of water
costs more than an ounce of gold.

When she told me that prophecy,
I sat for a moment,

and I thought about all of the injustices
we see in our world today,

the water crises we see
in our world today,

and I said, "Nokomis, Grandmother,

I feel like we are already
in that time of prophecy."

And she looked back at me directly,

and she said,

"So what are you going to do about it?"

That's why I'm here with you today,

because I believe
that one of the many solutions

to solving the many water injustices
we see in our world today

is recognizing that water
is a living relation

and granting it the legal
personhood it deserves.

So to do so, we need to transform
the way in which we value water.

We have to start to think
about how do we connect to water.

Usually, someone might ask you,

"What is water?"

and you would respond
with "Rain, ocean, lake, river,

H20, liquid."

You might even understand
the sacred essentiality of water

and say that water is life.

But what if I asked you, instead,

"Who is water?"

In the same way that I might ask you,
"Who is your grandmother?"

"Who is your sister?"

That type of orientation

fundamentally transforms the way
in which we think about water,

transforms the way
in which we make decisions

about how we might protect water,

protect it in the way that you
would protect your grandmother,

your mother, your sister, your aunties.

That is the type of transformation

that we need if we are going to address
the many water crises we see

in our world today,

these harrowing water crises

that have streamed
across our digital devices

in countdowns to Day Zero,

the point at which municipal
water supplies are shut off.

Places like Cape Town, South Africa,

where in 2018,

residents were limited
to two-minute showers

and 23 gallons of water
per day per person,

or just this past summer,
where the mismanagement of water

led the streets of Chennai

to be lined with thousands
of plastic water jugs

as residents waited hours
for water tankers

to deliver water,
first by rail, then by truck,

to meet their daily needs.

Or even here in the United States,

one of the most developed
nations in the world.

Today, Flint, Michigan
still does not have clean water.

But you are likely unfamiliar
with these water crises,

such as Neskantaga First Nation
in Northern Ontario, Canada,

where residents have been
on a boil water advisory since 1995.

Or Grassy Narrows First Nation,

which for decades has been dealing
with water contamination

from the paper mill industry

and where a recent study found

that nearly 90 percent
of the Indigenous population

has some form of mercury poisoning,

causing severe health complications.

Or even among the Navajo Nation.

Pictured here is the Animas River
on an early morning in 2015,

prior to the Gold King Mine spill.

After the spill leaked millions
of hazardous mine waste

into the river system,

this was it later that day.

Today, the Navajo Nation
and the Diné People

and the river itself are still
trying to recover from contamination.

Or even right here
in Palm Springs, California,

where the Agua Caliente Band
of Cahuilla Indians

has been fighting for decades
to protect groundwater from exploitation

so that future generations

can not only live but thrive
in their homelands,

as they have since time immemorial.

You see, a recent study
by DIGDEEP and the US Water Alliance

found that race, in the United States,

is the strongest predictor
of water and sanitation access,

and that for us,

as Native American people,

we are the group most likely
to have access issues

as it comes to water and sanitation.

So, as an Indigenous
legal scholar and scientist,

I believe that many
of these water injustices

are the result of the Western
legal system's failure to recognize

the legal personhood of water.

And so we must ask ourselves --

who is justice for?

Humanity alone?

We've granted legal personhood
to corporations.

In the US, the Supreme Court
found in "Citizens United"

that a corporation was a person

with similar protections
under the Constitution,

such as freedom of speech,

and applied similar reasoning
in "Hobby Lobby,"

finding that a corporation
had the right to freedom of religion

in defense against the implementation
of the Affordable Care Act

for its employees.

Now, these are controversial cases,

and as a Shinnecock woman
and a legal scholar,

they make me question
the moral compass of the Western world,

where you can grant legal
personhood to a corporation

but not nature.

You see, legal personhood
grants us the ability

to be visible in a court of law,

and to have our voices heard
as a person protected under the law.

And so if you can grant that
to a corporation,

why not the Great Lakes?

Why not the Mississippi River?

Why not the many waterways
across our planet

that we all depend on to survive?

We know we are in a global climate crisis,

but globally, our waters
are also threatened,

and we are facing a global water crisis,

and if we want to address
these crises in our lifetime,

we need to change.

We need to fundamentally transform
the way in which we value water.

And this is not something new
for us as Indigenous peoples.

Our Indigenous legal systems
have a foundational principle

of understanding our nonhuman relations

as being living and protected
under our laws.

And even for the Western world,

environmental legal theorists

have argued for the rights of nature
since the 1970s.

But we need to do better.

We need to change.

And we need to grant
legal personhood to water,

because it affords the following
rights and protections.

It grants water the right to exist,

flourish, and naturally evolve,

and most of all,
it protects the water from us,

from human beings that would do it harm,

from human-caused climate-change impacts,

from pollutants,

and from man-made contamination.

Moreover, it reverses
the accepted hierarchy

of humanity's domination over nature.

As human beings on this planet,

we are not superior
to other beings on this planet.

We are not superior to the water itself.

We have to learn
how to be good stewards again.

We often imagine that the world
is filled with infinite water.

In fact, it's not.

This planet, Ohke, Mother Earth,

has very finite freshwater resources.

Currently, nearly two billion people

live in countries experiencing
high water stress.

It is also estimated that by 2030,

up to 700 million people
could be displaced, worldwide,

due to water scarcity.

We have to address this crisis.

And so it's time for us to change.

We have to transform
the way in which we value water.

And we can do that.

We can learn to be good stewards again.

We can create laws through which
we grant legal personhood to water.

We can start to honor
the original treaties

between Indigenous peoples
and non-Indigenous peoples

for water protection.

We can appoint guardians for the water

that ensure the water's rights
are always protected.

We can also develop
water-quality standards

that have a holistic approach,

that ensure the well-being of the water
before our human needs.

And moreover, we can work to dismantle
exclusive property ownership over water.

And there are amazing successful examples
of this around the world.

The Whanganui River in Aotearoa,
in New Zealand,

and the Ganges River in India

were both granted
legal personhood in 2017.

And even this year,

the residents of the city of Toledo

recognized the legal
personality of Lake Erie.

And right here in California,

the Yurok Tribe granted legal personhood
to the Klamath River.

You see, I imagine a world
where we value water

as a living relation,

where we work to restore
our connection to water.

As women, we are water carriers.

We nurture water
in our wombs for nine months.

It's the first medicine
that each of us as human beings

is exposed to.

See, we are all born as human beings
with a natal connection to water,

but somewhere along the way,
we lost that connection,

and we have to work to restore it.

Because I imagine a world

in which water is healthy
and ecosystems are thriving.

I imagine a world

where each of us takes up
our right of responsibility

as water citizens

and protects water.

So, in the words of Nokomis,

what are you going to do about it?

What are you going to do for the water?

Well, you can call your local politician.

You can go to a town meeting.

You can advocate for granting
legal personhood to water.

You can be like the residents
of the city of Toledo

and build from the grass roots,

and craft your own legislation
if the politicians won't write it,

recognizing legal personality of water.

You can learn about the Indigenous lands
and waters that you now occupy

and the Indigenous legal systems
that still govern them.

And most of all, you can connect to water.

You can restore that connection.

Go to the water closest to your home,

and find out why it is threatened.

But most of all, if you do anything,

I ask that you make a promise to yourself,

that each day, you will ask,

"What have I done for the water today?"

If we are able to fulfill that promise,

I believe we can create a bold
and brilliant world

where future generations are able to form

the same relationship to water
that we have been privileged to have,

where all communities
of human and nonhuman relations

have water to live,

because water is life.

Tabutni. Thank you.

(Applause)