The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) is proud to recognize the Reuss Initiative as this month’s Outstanding Member of the Month for its effort to secure legal rights for rivers in Switzerland.
Based in the Canton of Lucerne, the Reuss Initiative (Verein Rechtsperson Reuss) is advancing a bold constitutional proposal to grant legal personality and fundamental rights to the River Reuss and other public waters.
In 2025, the initiative launched a citizen-driven signature campaign across the canton. By the end of the year, it had collected 5,460 certified signatures, surpassing the required threshold to initiate a formal constitutional process. On January 15, 2026, the signatures were officially submitted to the cantonal administration, triggering a process that will move from governmental review to parliamentary debate and ultimately to a democratic vote.
Beyond the legal process, the Reuss Initiative has played a crucial role in raising awareness about the ecological crisis affecting waterways in Lucerne. Stories shared during the signature collection revealed polluted drinking water, disappearing fish species, and the failure to enforce existing environmental laws. These realities underline a fundamental insight: if Nature continues to be treated as a commodity, the foundations of human life will be at risk.
From a legal-philosophical perspective, the initiative raises a powerful question: if corporations are granted legal personhood, why not rivers, forests, and ecosystems?
By bridging grassroots mobilization with constitutional law, the Reuss Initiative embodies the transformative potential of the Rights of Nature movement. Its work demonstrates that recognizing rivers as rights-bearing entities is not only legally possible, but socially necessary and democratically achievable.
GARN celebrates the Reuss Initiative for its courage, vision, and commitment to building a future where rivers have a legal voice and communities stand with Nature, not above it.
✨ Want to be featured as GARN’s Outstanding Member of the Month?
Join GARN for free and nominate yourself, someone else, or an organization whose work you admire: garn.org/get-involved.
