Apparently they do in Ecuador.

In a national referendum, the Ecuadoran people approved a new constitution - the first in human history to confer legal rights to natural resources.

This is really not that radical, when you think about it.

In a world where corporations and other inanimate entities (considered "artificial persons") enjoy some form of constitutional protection, conferring the same legal protections to natural habitats or plants or animal species seems to be the next logical step.

This extension of rights makes environmental protection much more streamlined and enforceable. Rather than struggling in vain to prove economic or personal harm to human beings, Ecuadoran naturalists now only need to prove imminent harm to nature itself.

Exporting this fantastic legal development to our own country may prove problematic, however, since the American judiciary is extremely hesitant to acknowledge collective rights, let alone rights attributed to non-humans.

Regardless, this is fantastic news all the same. The "Third World" isn't so helpless if you pay attention to the right things.