A tiny town in Quebec has become the first municipality in Canada to officially recognize trees as living beings with a fundamental set of rights.

Terrasse-Vaudreuil, a town of about 2,000 people just west of Montreal, adopted a resolution on June 9 to sign the Universal Declaration of Tree Rights.

The declaration was launched in 2018 in response to worldwide deforestation and the perception of trees as nothing more than objects and a resource to be extracted by humans.

Its stated goal is to 'recognize the Tree as a sentient living being, a source of Life and a common good of humanity.'

A 2019 petition in support of the declaration had garnered just shy of 88,000 signatures, and Terrasse-Vaudreuil's adoption of its principles marks the first public entity in North America to sign on as well.

The town's mayor, Michel Bourdeau, said in a press release written in French: 'By adopting this resolution, Terrasse-Vaudreuil reaffirms its commitment to building a sustainable future. 

'This recognition will be accompanied by concrete programs aimed at protecting our tree canopy, planting trees, and raising public awareness of their importance.'

Bourdeau told Canadian outlet CBC that 'our biggest ally is the trees' when it comes to fighting climate change.

Terrasse-Vaudreuil has promised to abide by the three fundamental principles of the Universal Declaration of Tree Rights. The first principle states: 'The Tree, a sentient living being and source of Life, is a common good of humanity.'

The second principle states: 'Life on Earth depends upon the existence of the Tree.'

And the third states: 'Human beings, endowed with reason and conscience, must act with the Tree in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity.'

According to the town's press release, adopting the resolution was a citizen-led initiative inspired by the film Des arbres et des arts (Trees and the Arts), by Quebec filmmaker André Desrochers.

The film argues that trees are living beings that communicate with each other through underground fungal networks that interact symbiotically with roots. 

The first article of the Universal Declaration of Tree Rights, which claims trees are 'sentient,' makes a similar argument, though it also emphasizes a distinction between the rights of trees and those of humans. 

'The recognition of Tree Rights must not automatically be confused with the attribution of legal personhood,' the declaration states. 

'In certain legal systems, legal personhood may constitute one mechanism for protecting a natural entity. It is, however, neither a necessary foundation nor the exclusive objective of the Universal Declaration of Tree Rights.'

The main idea behind recognizing trees as sentient beings is to stop people from viewing the plants 'solely as an object, property, raw material or resource available exclusively for human benefit,' according to the declaration. 

Other natural bodies have been granted similar legal protections in North America on occasion.

Quebec’s Magpie River was given legal personhood in 2021 by the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and the regional municipal council of Minganie. 

The protection granted the river nine rights, including freedom from pollution, the right to evolve naturally and a mandate to retain its natural biodiversity.

Lake Erie in Ohio was temporarily granted legal personhood similar to that of an individual or corporation through the 2019 Lake Erie Bill of Rights, but a federal judge ruled the measure unconstitutional in 2020. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Bourdeau, the mayor of Terrasse-Vaudreuil, for comment.