Just like corporations have come to assume rights like people under law, The Guardian reports Ecuadorians are facing a vote on whether to assign similar rights to natural-entities:

The South American republic of Ecuador will next week consider what many countries in the world would say is unthinkable. People will be asked to vote on Sunday on a new constitution that would give Ecuador’s tropical forests, islands, rivers and air similar legal rights to those normally granted to humans. If they vote yes – and polls show that 56% are for and only 23% are against – then an already approved bill of rights for nature will be introduced, and new laws will change the legal status of nature from being simply property to being a right-bearing entity.

Note, legal rights are granted to corporations as well and not just granted to humans. This appears to me the foundation for this action. Apparently the impact of pollution by multi-national corporations is such that Ecuador is looking for a way to offset and recoup the national security budget.