The Stockholm Environment Institute released a report on Monday finding that legal recognition of rivers as rights-bearing entities is insufficient to prevent toxic contamination and ecosystem destruction without broader structural change.

Alison Dyke, a political ecologist with the institute and co-author of the report, stated, "There are so many wider structural issues that need to change in order for rights of nature to be successfully enacted." Dyke also noted that "the resources that those two sides have are quite unequal," referring to the disparity between advocates for environmental protection and those engaged in activities that harm nature.

In 2016, Colombia's Constitutional Court recognized the Atrato River, which flows through the Chocó region, as a legal subject with rights following challenges by Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities regarding environmental destruction from mining. The court mandated the development of restoration plans for the river and its tributaries and established a guardianship system to represent their interests. In 2019, Bangladesh's Supreme Court extended legal personhood to every river in the country and issued 17 directives aimed at curbing pollution, including measures to criminalize river grabbing and bar offenders from obtaining bank loans and holding public office; many of these directives were later overturned on appeal.

Ecuador became the first country to enshrine the rights of nature in its constitution in 2008. Since then, Ecuador's Constitutional Court has revoked mining permits in protected forests. In the United States, several states, including Florida, Idaho, Ohio, and Utah, have taken steps to block the enactment of rights of nature laws.