Search Results for: rights of nature

Blog: A Decade of Legality: Rights of Nature Coming of Age

by celdf

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution

 

Happy birthday, Mother Earth!

Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…

Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!

Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution

Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”

As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”

For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities

Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.

During the past ten years –

  • Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
  • Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
  • Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
  • In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
  • The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
  • New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
  • A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
  • In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
  • Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”

A Growing Movement

People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.

And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.

As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.

CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!  

Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org

Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution

 

Happy birthday, Mother Earth!

Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…

Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!

Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution

Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”

As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”

For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities

Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.

During the past ten years –

  • Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
  • Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
  • Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
  • In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
  • The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
  • New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
  • A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
  • In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
  • Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”

A Growing Movement

People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.

And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.

As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.

CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!  

Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org

Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution

 

Happy birthday, Mother Earth!

Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…

Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!

Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution

Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”

As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”

For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities

Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.

During the past ten years –

  • Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
  • Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
  • Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
  • In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
  • The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
  • New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
  • A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
  • In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
  • Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”

A Growing Movement

People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.

And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.

As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.

CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!  

Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org

Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution

 

Happy birthday, Mother Earth!

Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…

Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!

Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution

Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”

As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”

For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities

Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.

During the past ten years –

  • Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
  • Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
  • Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
  • In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
  • The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
  • New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
  • A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
  • In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
  • Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”

A Growing Movement

People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.

And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.

As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.

CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!  

Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org

Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution

 

Happy birthday, Mother Earth!

Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…

Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!

Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution

Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”

As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”

For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities

Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.

During the past ten years –

  • Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
  • Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
  • Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
  • In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
  • The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
  • New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
  • A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
  • In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
  • Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”

A Growing Movement

People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.

And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.

As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.

CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!  

Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org

Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution

 

Happy birthday, Mother Earth!

Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…

Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!

Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution

Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”

As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”

For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities

Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.

During the past ten years –

  • Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
  • Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
  • Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
  • In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
  • The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
  • New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
  • A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
  • In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
  • Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”

A Growing Movement

People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.

And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.

As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.

CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!  

Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org

Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.

Press Release: Ho-Chunk Nation General Council Approves Rights of Nature Constitutional Amendment

by celdf

First Tribal Nation to Advance Rights-Based Constitutional Framework to Protect Nature

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Stacey Schmader
Administrative Director
Info@celdf.org
717-498-0054

MERCERSBURG, PA:  On Saturday, the General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation voted overwhelmingly – 86.9% in favor – to amend their tribal constitution to enshrine the Rights of Nature.  The Ho-Chunk Nation is the first tribal nation in the United States to take this critical step. A vote of the full membership will follow.

The amendment establishes that “Ecosystems, natural communities, and species within the Ho-Chunk Nation territory possess inherent, fundamental, and inalienable rights to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve.”   Further it prohibits frac sand mining, fossil fuel extraction, and genetic engineering as violations of the Rights of Nature.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), with its International Center for the Rights of Nature, assisted members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in drafting the amendment.

Rekumani (Bill Greendeer), a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Deer clan, proposed the amendment.  He explained, “Everything here is sacred. We are all related. We are related to the trees, the birds, the animals, nature herself.  We all have a right to exist and thrive. Mother Earth is a sacred soul, and has rights not to be exploited for someone’s profits.”

A CELDF representative stated, “We are honored to assist the Ho-Chunk Nation to become the first tribal nation to advance the Rights of Nature into its constitution.”

They added, “With this vote, the Ho-Chunk Nation has taken a critical step to prohibit fossil fuel extraction as a violation of the Rights of Nature.  This comes as the Ho-Chunk see their traditional living lands stripped of trees and plant life, driving away the deer and birds, in order to dig sand mines. Those sands will be shipped elsewhere for use in fracturing Mother Earth.”

Rights of Nature – CELDF

CELDF, and its International Center for the Rights of Nature, has assisted the first places in the world to secure the Rights of Nature in law – including in Ecuador’s Constitution and more than three dozen communities in the United States.  Today, CELDF is working in Nepal, India, and other countries, as well as with tribal nations and indigenous peoples, to advance Rights of Nature laws.  This includes work in Australia to secure legal rights of the Great Barrier Reef.

In a time of accelerating climate change, species extinction, and ecosystem collapse, it is increasingly understood that fulfilling a human right to a healthy environment is dependent on the health of the natural environment.  Thus, the human right to a healthy environment can only be achieved if we place the highest protections on the natural environment – by recognizing in law the right of the environment itself to be healthy and thrive.

To learn more, please contact Info@celdf.org.

###

Featured image: Sandhill crane by chumlee10 Flickr Creative Commons.

First Tribal Nation to Advance Rights-Based Constitutional Framework to Protect Nature

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Stacey Schmader
Administrative Director
Info@celdf.org
717-498-0054

MERCERSBURG, PA:  On Saturday, the General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation voted overwhelmingly – 86.9% in favor – to amend their tribal constitution to enshrine the Rights of Nature.  The Ho-Chunk Nation is the first tribal nation in the United States to take this critical step. A vote of the full membership will follow.

The amendment establishes that “Ecosystems, natural communities, and species within the Ho-Chunk Nation territory possess inherent, fundamental, and inalienable rights to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve.”   Further it prohibits frac sand mining, fossil fuel extraction, and genetic engineering as violations of the Rights of Nature.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), with its International Center for the Rights of Nature, assisted members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in drafting the amendment.

Rekumani (Bill Greendeer), a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Deer clan, proposed the amendment.  He explained, “Everything here is sacred. We are all related. We are related to the trees, the birds, the animals, nature herself.  We all have a right to exist and thrive. Mother Earth is a sacred soul, and has rights not to be exploited for someone’s profits.”

A CELDF representative stated, “We are honored to assist the Ho-Chunk Nation to become the first tribal nation to advance the Rights of Nature into its constitution.”

They added, “With this vote, the Ho-Chunk Nation has taken a critical step to prohibit fossil fuel extraction as a violation of the Rights of Nature.  This comes as the Ho-Chunk see their traditional living lands stripped of trees and plant life, driving away the deer and birds, in order to dig sand mines. Those sands will be shipped elsewhere for use in fracturing Mother Earth.”

Rights of Nature – CELDF

CELDF, and its International Center for the Rights of Nature, has assisted the first places in the world to secure the Rights of Nature in law – including in Ecuador’s Constitution and more than three dozen communities in the United States.  Today, CELDF is working in Nepal, India, and other countries, as well as with tribal nations and indigenous peoples, to advance Rights of Nature laws.  This includes work in Australia to secure legal rights of the Great Barrier Reef.

In a time of accelerating climate change, species extinction, and ecosystem collapse, it is increasingly understood that fulfilling a human right to a healthy environment is dependent on the health of the natural environment.  Thus, the human right to a healthy environment can only be achieved if we place the highest protections on the natural environment – by recognizing in law the right of the environment itself to be healthy and thrive.

To learn more, please contact Info@celdf.org.

###

Featured image: Sandhill crane by chumlee10 Flickr Creative Commons.

Press Release: International Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Oregon Community Rights, Rights of Nature Advocate

by celdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Kai Huschke
509-607-5034
kai@celdf.org

OREGON: Tomorrow evening, Carol Van Strum will receive the David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award at a public ceremony in Eugene, Oregon. The international honor is named after David Brower, one of the founders of the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and the Earth Island Institute, and is awarded in recognition of activists, community members, and attorneys who have engaged in outstanding environmental and social justice work. Recipients are chosen who exemplify David Brower’s spirit and the environmental awareness he sought to awaken in people. The award is presented by the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, which is being held March 1-4 at the University of Oregon School of Law.

 

Van Strum began working with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) in 2017, to defend Lincoln County, Oregon’s community rights ban on aerially sprayed pesticides. Lincoln residents worked with CELDF to draft the measure, which was adopted by voters last May. It was the first county-wide prohibition on aerial sprayed pesticides in the country, and included the recognition of the rights of nature. The timber industry filed a lawsuit to overturn the measure. Van Strum quickly took action to defend the rights of the Siletz River.

“I have lived in Lincoln County for 43 years in a home surrounded by river and forest. I am part of the ecosystems of Lincoln County. The Declaration of Independence itself asserts that the laws of nature preempt human law. Like the Lorax, I speak for the rights of waters and forests and wildlife to challenge human violations of natural law,” said Van Strum when she filed to intervene in the case last year. CELDF provided legal representation. A court decision on the rights-based ban is expected soon.

Van Strum has also been fighting the U.S. Navy’s efforts to weaponize Oregon coastal waters and take over national forests and other public lands for weapons testing and war games.  Further, in 2017, “The Poison Papers” were published, largely because of Van Strum.  The papers are a compilation of Van Strum’s efforts over 40 years to document evidence (100,000 pages) of fraudulent studies and false data used by the chemical industry and government regulators to approve poison products for industries, such as industrial logging.

Van Strum, however, is most well known for her fight to stop the spraying of Agent Orange and other herbicides on federal forest land in the Five Rivers Valley of Lincoln County, Oregon, in the 1970-80’s. She documented her successful efforts in a book titled “A Bitter Fog: Herbicides and Human Rights,” which details the tragic stories of families affected by aerial pesticide spraying in the Five Rivers area, including Van Strum’s own children. Van Strum exposes the fraudulent studies and corruption that allow continued use of poisons in state and private lands nationwide. Her book also highlights the importance of community rights:

“Giving human rights to corporations, says lawyer Gerry Spence, is like ‘giving an ant and a bulldozer equal rights to run over each other.’ It’s easy to feel like that ant when challenging a faceless industry behemoth, but while one ant may be powerless, a thousand ants can disable even a bulldozer, chewing through hydraulic and fuel lines, jamming control switches, swarming the hapless operator. Similarly, enough informed people can bring the machinery of death to a halt. The burgeoning community rights movement offers hope for such collective power.”

Oregon Communities Part of Growing Movement

Oregon residents are advancing local democratic and environmental rights as part of the broader Community Rights movement building across the United States. Local communities and state Community Rights Networks are partnering with CELDF to advance fundamental democratic and environmental rights. They are working with CELDF to establish community rights and the rights of nature in law, and prohibit extraction, fracking, pesticide use, water privatization, and other industrial activities as violations of those rights. Communities are joining together within and across states, working with CELDF to advance systemic change – recognizing our existing system of law and governance as inherently undemocratic and unsustainable. 

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit, public interest law firm providing free and affordable legal services to communities facing threats to their local environment, local agriculture, local economy, and quality of life. Its mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature. www.celdf.org.

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Press Release: First Rights of Nature Easement Established in Hawaii

by celdf

Private landowner on Kaua’i legally recognizes nature’s rights through conservation easement

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Kai Huschke
509-607-5034
kai@celdf.org

HAWAII:  For the first time, ecosystems and natural communities on eight acres of land on the island of Kaua’i possess legal rights to exist, thrive, regenerate, and evolve. This is the first Rights of Nature conservation easement on the Hawaiian Islands.

The effects of pollution and climate change wrought by corporate practices are devastating habitats and destabilizing communities on Hawaii and other Pacific islands. For many residents, waiting for government to protect them is no longer an option.

“Rights of Nature is already in the air, the sea, and the people of Hawaii, so recognizing legal Rights of Nature on land that is in my name came quite easily for me,” explained Joan Porter, the Kaua’i landowner who recognized nature’s rights through the conservation easement. “I established the easement in hopes that other landowners and governments will also understand the need to change the status of nature from property to bearing rights.”

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) has pioneered the Rights of Nature movement in the U.S. and globally. The Rights of Nature conservation easements are a growing part of that movement.

CELDF assisted Porter in the drafting of the easement, making Kaua’i the second locality where a private landowner in the U.S. changed the status of nature through an easement to recognize the rights of ecosystems and natural communities in perpetuity. The Kaua’i easement contains provisions on climate change, genetic engineering, restriction of corporate rights, and enforcement language.

A key partner in the Rights of Nature work in Hawaii has been the Kaua’i-based organization Coherence Lab. Prajna Horn, co-founder and executive director, stated, “There is a fundamental shift happening across our planet today, where more people are beginning to understand Indigenous wisdom and the inseparable relationship between humans and the Earth. Rights of Nature is rooted in Indigenous wisdom and is based on aligning with Natural Law. Thus, the legalization of the Rights of Nature is really about a remembering of how to live a harmonious, balanced and respectful life for the sake future generations. I’ve been engaged in the Rights of Nature movement for close to a decade. Through this conservation easement and other Rights of Nature work, I am grateful to have had the chance to bring CELDF to Kaua’i.”

For over a decade, CELDF has been assisting communities, countries, and tribal nations to transform the legal status of nature. In 2006, Tamaqua Borough, Pennsylvania, became the first government in the world to legally recognize nature’s rights. Since then, more than three dozen communities in more than 10 states in the U.S. have secured nature’s rights. In 2008, CELDF assisted Ecuador to draft constitutional provisions recognizing the Rights of Nature. The new constitution was overwhelmingly adopted by citizens. Most recently, the General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin approved an amendment to their tribal constitution to recognize the Rights of Nature.

As the Rights of Nature builds momentum, in the past year, courts in India and Colombia have issued decisions recognizing the rights of rivers and glaciers. In its decision securing rights of the Atrato River, the Colombia Constitutional Court wrote:

“…[H]uman populations are those that are interdependent on the natural world – not the other way around – and…they must assume the consequences of their actions and omissions in relation to nature. It’s about understanding this new socio-political reality with the aim of achieving a respectful transformation with the natural world and its environment, just as has happened before with civil and political rights…economic, social and cultural rights…and environmental rights.”

“The Rights of Nature easement is a bold first step in a broader legal and cultural paradigm shift,” says Kai Huschke, Northwest and Hawaii organizer for CELDF. “For generations, the people and ecosystems of Hawaii have endured ‘legalized’ colonization, toxic pollutants, and GMOs. People are saying ‘Enough!’ Many residents in Hawaii – and around the world – are moving towards law being used to protect the rights of coral reefs or the rights of tropical forests, rather than law being used to destroy them.” 

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit, public interest law firm providing free and affordable legal services to communities facing threats to their local environment, local agriculture, local economy, and quality of life. Its mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the Rights of Nature. www.celdf.org.

 

Rights of Nature – 2017 Symposium and Building a Movement

by celdf

Please Donate!

CELDF has pioneered the movement for recognition of legal rights of the natural world.

In partnership with people and communities, grassroots groups, and governments, in just over a decade, we’ve helped advance the first “Rights of Nature” laws passed at the local level in the U.S. Communities in more than ten states have now enacted such laws.

The first countries have secured the Rights of Nature into law, beginning with Ecuador, which enshrined the Rights of Nature in its constitution in 2008.

In October 2017, CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature, with Tulane Law School, hosted the first Rights of Nature Symposium in the U.S. We brought together leaders on the Rights of Nature from around the world to present on their work and strategize on next steps forward. This included leaders from the U.S., Ecuador, Nepal, Australia, Sweden, and from the Ponca Tribe, the Ho-Chunk Nation, and the Navajo Nation. Conference proceedings and videos of the panels and speakers are available here.

The Symposium comes as our work with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and with countries abroad is growing. With your support, we can make the fundamental change that is needed to address what we know today is a fact — nature is suffering.

Today, around the world, ecosystems are collapsing. Coral reefs are experiencing bleaching and die-off. The oceans are acidifying. Species are going extinct at more than 1,000 times natural background rates. And of course, climate change is accelerating, with 2016 the hottest year on human record — the third record-setting year in a row.

It is clear that fundamental change is needed. CELDF, our International Center, and our partners, are building a movement for fundamental change, driving forward a paradigm shift in humankind’s relationship with the natural world.

In 2017, our work on the Rights of Nature made big steps forward with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and abroad.

Our first Climate Bill of Rights was enacted — recognizing rights of both people and nature to an unpolluted climate system. The first community in Oregon en- acted a Rights of Nature law. Constitutional amendments are now advancing in several states that would secure the legal authority of communities to enshrine the Rights of Nature in local law.

We’ve met with parliamentary members and government officials from Sweden, Nepal, Bolivia, and other countries on the Rights of Nature. CELDF is serving as legal adviser for the first-in-the-nation lawsuit in which an ecosystem — the Colorado River — is bringing a case to secure and defend its own rights. We’ve launched a series of Rights of Nature workshops with tribal nations. And more.

This movement is building as more and more people, communities, and even governments are recognizing that existing environmental legal systems, which authorize human use and exploitation of nature, are not able to protect nature. These environmental laws are giving way to new legal frameworks that recognize the need to change our relationship with nature.

We need your help to grow this work. Thank you for your support!

Your donation is tax deductible!

Please Donate!

Please Donate!

CELDF has pioneered the movement for recognition of legal rights of the natural world.

In partnership with people and communities, grassroots groups, and governments, in just over a decade, we’ve helped advance the first “Rights of Nature” laws passed at the local level in the U.S. Communities in more than ten states have now enacted such laws.

The first countries have secured the Rights of Nature into law, beginning with Ecuador, which enshrined the Rights of Nature in its constitution in 2008.

In October 2017, CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature, with Tulane Law School, hosted the first Rights of Nature Symposium in the U.S. We brought together leaders on the Rights of Nature from around the world to present on their work and strategize on next steps forward. This included leaders from the U.S., Ecuador, Nepal, Australia, Sweden, and from the Ponca Tribe, the Ho-Chunk Nation, and the Navajo Nation. Conference proceedings and videos of the panels and speakers are available here.

The Symposium comes as our work with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and with countries abroad is growing. With your support, we can make the fundamental change that is needed to address what we know today is a fact — nature is suffering.

Today, around the world, ecosystems are collapsing. Coral reefs are experiencing bleaching and die-off. The oceans are acidifying. Species are going extinct at more than 1,000 times natural background rates. And of course, climate change is accelerating, with 2016 the hottest year on human record — the third record-setting year in a row.

It is clear that fundamental change is needed. CELDF, our International Center, and our partners, are building a movement for fundamental change, driving forward a paradigm shift in humankind’s relationship with the natural world.

In 2017, our work on the Rights of Nature made big steps forward with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and abroad.

Our first Climate Bill of Rights was enacted — recognizing rights of both people and nature to an unpolluted climate system. The first community in Oregon en- acted a Rights of Nature law. Constitutional amendments are now advancing in several states that would secure the legal authority of communities to enshrine the Rights of Nature in local law.

We’ve met with parliamentary members and government officials from Sweden, Nepal, Bolivia, and other countries on the Rights of Nature. CELDF is serving as legal adviser for the first-in-the-nation lawsuit in which an ecosystem — the Colorado River — is bringing a case to secure and defend its own rights. We’ve launched a series of Rights of Nature workshops with tribal nations. And more.

This movement is building as more and more people, communities, and even governments are recognizing that existing environmental legal systems, which authorize human use and exploitation of nature, are not able to protect nature. These environmental laws are giving way to new legal frameworks that recognize the need to change our relationship with nature.

We need your help to grow this work. Thank you for your support!

Your donation is tax deductible!

Please Donate!

Please Donate!

CELDF has pioneered the movement for recognition of legal rights of the natural world.

In partnership with people and communities, grassroots groups, and governments, in just over a decade, we’ve helped advance the first “Rights of Nature” laws passed at the local level in the U.S. Communities in more than ten states have now enacted such laws.

The first countries have secured the Rights of Nature into law, beginning with Ecuador, which enshrined the Rights of Nature in its constitution in 2008.

In October 2017, CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature, with Tulane Law School, hosted the first Rights of Nature Symposium in the U.S. We brought together leaders on the Rights of Nature from around the world to present on their work and strategize on next steps forward. This included leaders from the U.S., Ecuador, Nepal, Australia, Sweden, and from the Ponca Tribe, the Ho-Chunk Nation, and the Navajo Nation. Conference proceedings and videos of the panels and speakers are available here.

The Symposium comes as our work with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and with countries abroad is growing. With your support, we can make the fundamental change that is needed to address what we know today is a fact — nature is suffering.

Today, around the world, ecosystems are collapsing. Coral reefs are experiencing bleaching and die-off. The oceans are acidifying. Species are going extinct at more than 1,000 times natural background rates. And of course, climate change is accelerating, with 2016 the hottest year on human record — the third record-setting year in a row.

It is clear that fundamental change is needed. CELDF, our International Center, and our partners, are building a movement for fundamental change, driving forward a paradigm shift in humankind’s relationship with the natural world.

In 2017, our work on the Rights of Nature made big steps forward with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and abroad.

Our first Climate Bill of Rights was enacted — recognizing rights of both people and nature to an unpolluted climate system. The first community in Oregon en- acted a Rights of Nature law. Constitutional amendments are now advancing in several states that would secure the legal authority of communities to enshrine the Rights of Nature in local law.

We’ve met with parliamentary members and government officials from Sweden, Nepal, Bolivia, and other countries on the Rights of Nature. CELDF is serving as legal adviser for the first-in-the-nation lawsuit in which an ecosystem — the Colorado River — is bringing a case to secure and defend its own rights. We’ve launched a series of Rights of Nature workshops with tribal nations. And more.

This movement is building as more and more people, communities, and even governments are recognizing that existing environmental legal systems, which authorize human use and exploitation of nature, are not able to protect nature. These environmental laws are giving way to new legal frameworks that recognize the need to change our relationship with nature.

We need your help to grow this work. Thank you for your support!

Your donation is tax deductible!

Please Donate!

Please Donate!

CELDF has pioneered the movement for recognition of legal rights of the natural world.

In partnership with people and communities, grassroots groups, and governments, in just over a decade, we’ve helped advance the first “Rights of Nature” laws passed at the local level in the U.S. Communities in more than ten states have now enacted such laws.

The first countries have secured the Rights of Nature into law, beginning with Ecuador, which enshrined the Rights of Nature in its constitution in 2008.

In October 2017, CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature, with Tulane Law School, hosted the first Rights of Nature Symposium in the U.S. We brought together leaders on the Rights of Nature from around the world to present on their work and strategize on next steps forward. This included leaders from the U.S., Ecuador, Nepal, Australia, Sweden, and from the Ponca Tribe, the Ho-Chunk Nation, and the Navajo Nation. Conference proceedings and videos of the panels and speakers are available here.

The Symposium comes as our work with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and with countries abroad is growing. With your support, we can make the fundamental change that is needed to address what we know today is a fact — nature is suffering.

Today, around the world, ecosystems are collapsing. Coral reefs are experiencing bleaching and die-off. The oceans are acidifying. Species are going extinct at more than 1,000 times natural background rates. And of course, climate change is accelerating, with 2016 the hottest year on human record — the third record-setting year in a row.

It is clear that fundamental change is needed. CELDF, our International Center, and our partners, are building a movement for fundamental change, driving forward a paradigm shift in humankind’s relationship with the natural world.

In 2017, our work on the Rights of Nature made big steps forward with communities and in states across the U.S., with tribal nations, and abroad.

Our first Climate Bill of Rights was enacted — recognizing rights of both people and nature to an unpolluted climate system. The first community in Oregon en- acted a Rights of Nature law. Constitutional amendments are now advancing in several states that would secure the legal authority of communities to enshrine the Rights of Nature in local law.

We’ve met with parliamentary members and government officials from Sweden, Nepal, Bolivia, and other countries on the Rights of Nature. CELDF is serving as legal adviser for the first-in-the-nation lawsuit in which an ecosystem — the Colorado River — is bringing a case to secure and defend its own rights. We’ve launched a series of Rights of Nature workshops with tribal nations. And more.

This movement is building as more and more people, communities, and even governments are recognizing that existing environmental legal systems, which authorize human use and exploitation of nature, are not able to protect nature. These environmental laws are giving way to new legal frameworks that recognize the need to change our relationship with nature.

We need your help to grow this work. Thank you for your support!

Your donation is tax deductible!

Please Donate!

El Heraldo: Rights of Nature granted to the Atrato River in Colombia

by celdf

Original source: https://www.elheraldo.co/colombia/por-primera-vez-se-le-da-un-lugar-los-derechos-de-la-naturaleza-355779

In Colombia, it is the first time that rights are granted to a river, to resources as such, beyond people and communities.

As a historical landmark, Ximena González described the ruling of the Constitutional Court that declared for the first time that a river “is subject of rights” and ordered the protection and immediate conservation of the Atrato River, its basin and tributaries, run by the State.

González is the spokeswoman for the Center for Studies for Social Justice Tierra Digna, who presented the guardianship that motivated the historic pronouncement, representing the Greater Community Council of the Popular Peasant Organization of Alto Atrato, the Greater Community Council of the Peasant Integral Association Atrato, the Association of Community Councils of Bajo Atrato, among others.

“It is a very important, historical ruling for Colombia, because for the first time it gives a place to the rights of nature. In Colombia, it is the first time that rights are given to a river, to resources as such, beyond people and communities,” she said.

González explained that the Constitutional Court declared that the Atrato river is vital for the communities, reason why the State must intervene to recover it, in well-being of the chocoanos.

“What the Court does is an experiment to give rights to this river for the first time. He ordered that a commission of the Atrato River Guardians be formed, composed of people from the communities and the National Government. He ordered that a Committee of Experts be created to advise those guardians of the river, with the idea of ​​generating a comprehensive intervention plan to recover and protect Atrato,” she explained.

The lawyer explained that the guardianship was filed on behalf of several community councils in the Chocó because the Atrato river, as the third most important in the country, was being affected by various situations of gold extraction illegally and by the State’s failure to provide To citizens of the area with basic services.

“Communities live on the river, their daily lives, to consume food, to bathe, require the river. So all the polluting effects of these extractive activities were having a worrisome effect on the health of the population, in the environment, presence of mercury with the consequences that this implies. The river was being destroyed,” Gonzalez explained.

The lawyer said that the Center for Studies expects a structural measure, after so many years of forgetfulness, so that the determination is in accordance with their interests. Nevertheless, they consider the judgment as a beginning of the work that is to be done in favor of the river Atrato.

“Colombia is tired of so many paper failures that do not transform reality. For us it is clear that the ruling is a beginning in achieving the materiality of these rights. We have to do a great job, we need resources so that this can materialize in real programs,” she explained.

The ruling ordered not only a frontal attack on illegal mining, but also halted the use of toxic substances for the extraction of minerals, both legally and illegally. About the pollution produced by mercury, Gonzalez explained that when it comes into contact with water it becomes methylmercury that “is even more toxic.”

“The mercury that is in the water the fish consume it and will end the humans. We are facing a huge public health problem. On the other hand, all that river with large amounts of toxic substances flows into the Caribbean Sea and from there with effects that we do not know. The fact that the Court established measures on mercury was more than necessary,” she added.

The court ruled that the Atrato River is subject to rights that imply its protection, conservation, maintenance and restoration of the river itself and ordered that the National Government should exercise the legal guardianship and representation of the rights of the tributary : “The Court will order the National Government to exercise legal guardianship and representation of the rights of the river (through the Institution designated by the President of the Republic, which may well be the Ministry of the Environment) together with the ethnic communities that Inhabit in the catchment of the river Atrato in Chocó.”

Press Release: Ho-Chunk Nation General Council Approves Rights of Nature Constitutional Amendment

by celdf

First Tribal Nation to Advance the Rights of Nature

 

Contact:
Stacey Schmader
Administrative Director
Info@celdf.org
717-498-0054

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MERCERSBURG, PA:  On Saturday, the General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation voted overwhelmingly to amend their tribal constitution to enshrine the Rights of Nature.  The Ho-Chunk Nation is the first tribal nation in the United States to take this critical step.  A vote of the full membership will follow.

The amendment establishes that “Ecosystems and natural communities within the Ho-Chunk territory possess an inherent, fundamental, and inalienable right to exist and thrive.”  Further it prohibits frac sand mining, fossil fuel extraction, and genetic engineering as violations of the Rights of Nature.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted members of the Ho-Chunk Nation to draft the amendment.

Bill Greendeer, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Deer clan, proposed the amendment.  He explained, “Passing the Rights of Nature amendment will help us protect our land.”

A CELDF representative stated, “We are honored to assist the Ho-Chunk Nation to become the first tribal nation to enshrine the Rights of Nature in its constitution.”

They added, “With this vote, the Ho-Chunk Nation has taken a critical step to prohibit fossil fuel extraction as a violation of the Rights of Nature.  This comes as the Ho-Chunk stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux in opposition to the Dakota Access oil pipeline, recognizing the inherently destructive impact of fossil fuel extraction and development.”

CELDF will be meeting with members of the Ho-Chunk Nation and members of other tribal nations in Wisconsin at the Traditional Ecological Knowledge conference to discuss Rights of Nature.  The conference is being held in La Crosse, Wisconsin, at Viterbo University on October 14.

Rights of Nature – CELDF

CELDF has assisted the first communities in the U.S. to enact Rights of Nature laws, with more than three dozen now in place. In addition, CELDF assisted Ecuador to draft provisions for its constitution, making it the first country in the world to enshrine the Rights of Nature in its constitution.  Today CELDF is partnering with indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, communities, and civil society in the U.S. and abroad to advance Rights of Nature legal frameworks, including in India where a law to establish rights of the Ganges River is being proposed to Prime Minister Modi’s administration.

In a time of accelerated climate change, species extinction, and ecosystem collapse, it is increasingly understood that fulfilling a human right to a healthy environment is dependent on the health of the natural environment.  Thus, the human right to a healthy environment can only be achieved if we place the highest protections on the natural environment – by recognizing in law the right of the environment itself to be healthy and thrive.

To learn more, please contact info@celdf.org.

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Photo: Mike Schaffner, White Buffalo, Flickr Creative Commons

Rights of Nature FAQs

by celdf

International Center for the Rights of Nature

 

What do we mean when we say that Nature has rights?

Under the current system of law in almost every country, Nature is considered to be property. Something that is considered property confers upon the property owner the right to damage or destroy it. Thus, those who “own” wetlands, forestland, and other ecosystems and natural communities, are largely permitted to use them however they wish, even if that includes destroying the health and well-being of Nature.

When we talk about the Rights of Nature, it means recognizing that ecosystems and natural communities are not merely property that can be owned. Rather, they are entities that have an independent and inalienable right to exist and flourish.

Laws recognizing the Rights of Nature change the status of ecosystems and natural communities to being recognized as rights-bearing entities. As such, they have rights that can be enforced by people, governments, and communities on behalf of Nature.

 

Why do we need to adopt new legal structures recognizing Rights of Nature?

By most every measure, the environment today is in worse shape than when the major environmental laws were adopted in the United States over forty years ago. Since then, countries around the world have sought to replicate these laws. Yet, species extinction is accelerating, global warming is far more advanced than previously believed, deforestation continues around the world, and overfishing the world’s oceans has caused the collapse of many fisheries.

These environmental laws – including the federal Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and similar state laws – legalize environmental harms.  They regulate how much pollution or destruction of nature can occur under law. Rather than preventing pollution and environmental destruction, our environmental laws allow and permit it.

In addition, under commonly understood terms of preemption, once these activities are legalized by federal or state governments, local governments are prohibited from banning them.

Laws recognizing the Rights of Nature begin with a different premise: Ecosystems and natural communities have the right to exist and flourish. People, communities, and governments have the authority to defend those rights on behalf of ecosystems and natural communities.

 

Where have laws recognizing the Rights of Nature been adopted?

CELDF has assisted the first communities in the United States, as well as Ecuador, to develop groundbreaking Rights of Nature laws.

The first laws establishing legal structures that recognized the Rights of Nature were adopted by local municipalities in the United States in 2006.  Tamaqua Borough, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, was the first community to enact the Rights of Nature.  Since then, more than three dozen communities have adopted such laws.  In November 2010, the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became the first major municipality in the United States to recognize Rights of Nature.

In September 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to recognize Rights of Nature in its constitution. Bolivia has also established Rights of Nature laws.

 

What rights do Rights of Nature laws recognize?

The earliest Rights of Nature laws recognized the right of ecosystems to “exist and flourish.” Others, including the Ecuadorian constitutional provisions promulgated in 2008, recognize the right of Nature to exist, persist, evolve, and regenerate.

These laws also recognize the right of any person or organization to defend, protect, and enforce those rights on behalf of Nature, and for payment of recovered damages to government to provide for the full restoration of Nature.

 

Doesn’t recognizing Rights of Nature just add an additional layer of regulation?

No. Current environmental regulatory structures are mostly about “permitting” certain harms to occur, such as fracking, mining, and factory farming. They act more to legalize the harmful activities of corporations and other business entities than to protect our natural and human communities.

Laws recognizing the Rights of Nature are different. They establish a basic principle of rights, which requires laws and regulations to work within that framework to uphold those rights.  For example, communities that have enacted Rights of Nature laws are empowered to reject governmental actions permitting unwanted and damaging development which would violate these rights.  Rights of Nature laws enable people, communities, and ecosystems themselves to defend and enforce such rights. Without the ability to do so, those ecosystems would be destroyed.  Today, CELDF is serving as legal counsel for ecosystems, as well as communities, to defend the rights of watersheds to exist and flourish.

Although people have been talking about “sustainable development” for decades, very little has been done to change the structure of law to actually achieve that goal. Laws recognizing the Rights of Nature finally codify the concept of sustainable development. They disallow activities that would interfere with the functioning of natural systems that support human and natural life.

 

What happens when the Rights of Nature and human rights conflict?

When different human rights conflict, a court weighs the harms to the interests, and then decides how to balance them. The same thing happens when the Rights of Nature conflict with human rights.

Given that ecosystems and Nature provide a life support system for humans, their interests must, at times, override other rights and interests. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have a habitable planet to support our continued existence.

Of course humans are part of Nature as well, which means that human needs must also be considered when the rights and interests of ecosystems come into conflict with ours.

Furthermore, many nations have expanded their body of legal rights to recognize a human right to a healthy environment. This includes a number of European nations, including Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, and Finland.

The recognition of such rights should mean that the highest legal protection is implemented and enforced. However, over recent decades, as ecosystems and species around the globe have been pushed toward collapse and global warming has accelerated, it has become increasingly clear that fulfilling the human right to a healthy environment is unachievable without a fundamental change in the relationship between humankind and Nature.

Thus, implementing and fulfilling a true human right to a healthy environment is dependent on the health of the natural environment itself. The human right to a healthy environment can only be achieved by securing the highest protections for the natural environment – by recognizing in law the right of the environment itself to be healthy and thrive.

 

Doesn’t this mean that rocks must be given lawyers?

No, but it does mean that the rights of ecosystems and natural communities are enforceable independently of the rights of people who use them. That means that people within a community could step “into the shoes” of a mountain, stream, or forest ecosystem, and advocate for the rights of those natural communities. It calls for a system of jurisprudence in which those ecosystems are actually “seen” in court. Damages are assessed according to the costs of restoring the ecosystem to its pre-damaged state.

 

What is the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth?

In April 2010, Bolivia hosted the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. At the conference, CELDF assisted in drafting the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Modeled on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration has been forwarded to the United Nations for consideration by the U.N. General Assembly. On April 20, 2011, the General Assembly hosted an Interactive Dialogue entitled “Ways to promote a holistic approach to sustainable development in harmony with Nature.” The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature was presented during the session.

 

To learn more about the Rights of Nature, and for advice and counsel, contact us at info@celdf.org.

 

Green Party of England and Wales Adopts Rights of Nature Policy: CELDF Assisted in Drafting New Rights-Based Plank

by celdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  


CONTACT:
Stacey Schmader
Administrative Director
Info@celdf.org
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MERCERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, USA:  On Sunday, the Green Party of England and Wales adopted a Rights of Nature policy platform.

The policy – written with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) – calls for laws recognizing “the rights of nature to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, as well as the right to restoration.” Recognizing that corporate “rights” and powers are incompatible with the Rights of Nature, the policy elevates the Rights of Nature over corporate “rights.”

Following the passage of the new policy by an overwhelming margin, a CELDF representative said, “We congratulate the Green Party for being a leader on the Rights of Nature.  As ecosystems and species collapse around the globe, people and governments are understanding the need for a fundamentally new relationship between humankind and the natural world.  We must place the highest protections on nature through the recognition of rights.”

Molly Scott-Cato, Green Party member and an elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England, stated, “It’s very exciting to see our Party leading the way as usual.  The Rights of Nature, as the people of Ecuador know from first-hand experience, is an idea whose time has come.”

The proposer of the Rights of Nature policy, Atus Mariqueo-Russell, said, “With the adoption of Rights of Nature, the Green Party is once again at the forefront of advocating for exciting new ecological laws.”

The Rights of Nature Europe organization assisted with the new policy.  CELDF has assisted the organization to develop a European Union citizens’ initiative on the Rights of Nature.

CELDF partners with communities, civil society, and governments around the world to advance Rights of Nature legal frameworks, building a movement toward a rights-based approach to environmental protection.  This includes pioneering work with the first communities in the United States to put in place Rights of Nature laws.  More than three dozen of these laws are enacted in states across the country, and are now advancing to the state level.  As well, CELDF assisted the first country in the world, Ecuador, to codify Rights of Nature constitutional provisions.  Today CELDF is working with civil society partners in India, Nepal, Cameroon, Ghana, and elsewhere on the Rights of Nature.

Further, CELDF is pioneering work to confront corporate “rights” – with which corporations are able to decimate ecosystems around the world.  CELDF has assisted the first communities in the U.S. to eliminate corporate “rights” when they interfere with the rights of communities and nature.

Additional Information

https://celdf.org/how-we-work/education/rights-of-nature/
https://celdf.org/how-we-work/education/corporate-rights/


About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit, public interest law firm providing free and affordable legal services to communities facing threats to their local environment, local agriculture, local economy, and quality of life. Its mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature.

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Green Party of England and Wales’ Rights of Nature Policy

by celdf

On February 28th, the Green Party of England and Wales adopted the following Rights of Nature policy, drafted in partnership with CELDF:

 

GREEN PARTY OF ENGLAND AND WALES

RIGHTS OF NATURE POLICY – ADOPTED FEBRUARY 28, 2016

RR1000: The Green Party advocates the legal recognition of rights of nature as a legal concept to protect ecosystems. Central to this are the rights of nature to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, as well as the right to restoration. Green parliamentarians, both in Europe and the UK, will support any sensible measures to introduce such legal instruments.

RR1001: Recognising the rights of nature advances a new framework for environmental protection, placing the highest societal value and protection on nature through the recognition of rights.

RR1002: The State shall defend and enforce the rights of nature. People and communities shall be empowered to defend and enforce the rights of nature for perceived breaches, which will then be judged through the legal system.

RR1003: If an ecosystem’s rights are breached then the State shall establish effective mechanisms to achieve full restoration and shall adopt adequate measures to prevent future violations of the rights of nature.

RR1004: These rights will not be restrictive to human flourishing, and will be designed to cover a definition of ecosystems that is established in conjunction with legal experts, as well as public consultation.

RR1005: The rights of nature will be established in coordination with legal experts and will involve public consultation; as well as dialogue with countries that have successfully integrated rights of nature into their constitutions and legal frameworks.

RR1006: Recognising that corporate rights and powers are often used to exploit nature and undermine environmental protections, corporations that violate or seek to violate the rights of nature shall not possess legal rights, powers, privileges, immunities, or duties which may interfere with or violate the rights of nature.

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