Rights of Nature: How legal ‘personhood’ could save Lough Neagh

Salazar-Ortuño began work with the backing of more than 600,000 people in Murcia, who signed a legal petition calling for protection.

“We went to the parliament in order to change the existing anthropocentric law into an ecocentric law,” Salazar-Ortuño said.

“Then we decided to propose our parliament with 600,000 signatures that the Mar Menor needs to have rights and legal personhood.”

A tutorship, or guardianship, was created, which meant that anybody could go to court on the lagoon’s behalf.

“They are represented by many stakeholders around the lagoon – fishermen, farmers, citizens, neighbours, environmental groups.

“The Mar Menor has a tax number, a private account, and then when one citizen or the tutorship asks for restoration against any of the farmers, against any of the polluters of the Mar Menor, the restoration goes directly to the Mar Menor.”

And it has already had an impact.

“There is a big pressure in the environmental ministry – they have invested more than €600 million (£517.5m) by restoring of the Mar Menor,” Salazar-Ortuño said.

“So it’s a big impact after the mobilisation.”