VEGETATION AS A SUBJECT OF RIGHTS

Vegetation is not only part of the 'living beings' category but is also one of its main protagonists since it allows its other members to live. Without vegetation, the Earth would be unbreathable, just like thousands of other inert planets in the universe. However, despite that key role in the succession of circumstances that allowed life's emergence and maintenance on Earth, vegetation is not always protected nor has inalienable rights. Rather, in the last centuries of voracious development, it has been understood as a resource to be exploited, instrumentalizing its role in service to the human species and industrializing its presence on the face of the Earth. It has only been protected through the definition of special zoning - reserves - as if they only served as a backup when there is nothing left to exploit. Therefore, in the debate section of this issue of ARQ magazine, we asked about the possibility of considering plants and trees subjects of rights, especially having the new constitution as a horizon. From there, we can also question whether those more-thanhuman entities can possess a legal subjectivity that protects them in themselves and not only under the category of 'reserve.'