COLUMN: Think Again – Trees don’t have human rights

More than a century ago, Joyce Kilmer wrote his famous poem, Trees.

“I think that I shall never see,” Kilmer began, “a poem lovely as a tree.” Kilmer’s poem reflects on the beauty and majesty of trees and even ascribes human-like characteristics to them.

For example, a tree “looks at God all day,” and “lifts her leafy arms to pray.” Anyone who reads this poem will quickly see that Kilmer was greatly impressed by the beauty and majesty of trees.

And yet, I suspect that even Kilmer would be flabbergasted at a resolution passed by a small town west of Montreal. Earlier this year, Terrasse-Vaudreuil town council voted unanimously to officially recognize trees as living beings with rights of their own.

Specifically, the town became the first municipality in Canada to officially endorse the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Trees. Article 1 of the declaration states that, “All trees have the legal right to exist, flourish and evolve.”

So, if you are looking to build a new home or business and a tree happens to be in the middle of your property, you can’t cut it down. That would violate the tree’s legal right to exist.

Article 2 of the declaration makes this principle even more explicit. “Every tree has the right to recognition everywhere as having legal rights. No distinction shall be made on the basis of political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a forest belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.”

In other words, it doesn’t matter where the tree is located or who owns the property in question. That tree has just as much right to exist as you do. As for enforcement, Article 3 states that violations of the rights of trees shall be prosecuted before the “International Court for the Rights of Forest Ecosystems.”

Now, you probably view this declaration of the rights of trees as unadulterated nonsense. And so you should, because it is.

No matter how much we admire trees or appreciate their obvious benefit to our ecosystem, common sense tells us that it is absurd to give trees the same legal rights as humans. A tree is not a person, and we will run into serious problems if we start pretending that it is.

In a CBC interview, the mayor of Terrasse-Vaudreuil explained that passing this resolution meant, among other things, that his town would review its bylaws to ensure that trees are protected. Interestingly, the mayor noted that the resolution won’t impact future development because his town has no vacant land available.

Reading between the lines, it’s clear that the mayor of Terrasse-Vaudreuil views this resolution as largely symbolic. It won’t impact future development, and it appears that his town already has plenty of regulations in place to protect trees.

Nevertheless, politicians act foolishly when they pass declarations with flowery legal guarantees that cannot possibly be enforced. If a municipality intends to protect its forest canopy, it should simply enact a bylaw that outlines where trees should be planted, how trees should be cared for, and under what circumstances it’s acceptable to cut them down.

It’s entirely possible to create sensible environmental regulations without passing sweeping legal declarations ascribing human rights to trees. Far too many politicians in our country get carried away with symbolic declarations that say far more than necessary to get the job done.

Kilmer concluded his poem by saying, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.” I don’t think Kilmer’s poem was foolish but officially declaring that trees have human rights certainly is.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.