Environment committee  Whilst I'm aware that in South America and in Canada the cries mostly come from the indigenous peoples who haven't lost that awareness of our deep dependence on nature—without nature none of this exists—so they still have their priorities in that way, what we've done in Europe is seen how those principles are actually applicable everywhere.

Environment committee  Yes, exactly. The reason that I've been advocating in the way that I have for a change in the legal system is that it's such a powerful way to shift societal norms. Originally, when corporate rights were brought in, there was a massive outcry. Nobody could even envisage how a being that was not even a being and just existed on paper could even be the subject of rights, but now it's massively empowered, this vehicle called the corporation.

Environment committee  Yes, absolutely. There has to be an enforceability to the rights as well, but how we enforce them.... Whether we do that by using the rights as a tool to evolve our societal structures, our economic system, our agriculture system and our food system, or we use the rights just as a litigation tool would be entirely up to us.

Environment committee  Yes, I'm still here. Yes, of course. As I was trying explain in the beginning, if we really want to take an integrated approach and we want to resolve our issues, we have to think long term. The problems that our society has created are partly or, I would say, primarily caused by some of the assumptions that are embedded within our legal system that have allowed our economies to develop in the ways that they have.

Environment committee  Absolutely.

Environment committee  —with biodiversity and the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle being the ones that are most highly in the danger zone. I would urge you to—

Environment committee  Hi there. I understand that you probably have a handout that was circulated amongst you, which I'm going to walk you through. To give you a little bit of background, I've been advocating for the recognition of the rights of nature as the foundation of all the other rights. If we are to solve our issues to do with fresh water, we cannot look at it in isolation from all of the other systems.