Spain is giving legal protection to a lagoon, the Mar Menor, and allowing people to sue polluters on its behalf.

This seems to be a very good plan, but the article persistently says that the lagoon is now a "person."

I don't think that is what the law says. When the article describes the matter carefully, no such "person" is involved. That's good, because a lagoon is not a person.

The idea that to have any legal existence requires being a "person" is not only absurd, it has done terribly harm. Consider, for instance, the Corporations United decision in the United States, in which the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are entitled to human rights. For humanity's survival and freedom we must take away the rights of fictitious "persons" — but the Mar Menor should remain protected.