RIGHTS OF NATURE ADVOCACY

‘Rights of Nature’ is a framework and legal system based on the recognition and honoring of the Earth’s fundamental and inviolable right to exist, live, thrive, evolve and regenerate.

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The majority of the world’s legal frameworks treat nature as property, meaning that life-giving rivers, forests and mountains are seen as objects to be sold and consumed. Legal systems built on the premise of Rights of Nature challenge the idea that natural communities and ecosystems are property to be exploited endlessly by humans, and instead recognizes the Earth as a living, rights-bearing entity.

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Environmental and social justice advocates have long been seeking a tool which would enable communities affected by climate change and environmental degradation to gain recognition for the harms done not just to human interests, but also to ecologic ones. A Rights of Nature framework requires that those responsible, including corporate and governmental actors, be held fully accountable for negative impacts on Earth systems.

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Rights of Nature have been formally included in the Constitution of Ecuador and in nationwide laws in Bolivia, and have been adopted in local ordinances successfully in diverse communities across the U.S. Rights of Nature laws and related forms of Earth Jurisprudence are also active in New Zealand, Columbia, Australia, Sweden, Nepal and other regions, as the Rights of Nature movement grows.

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Struggles and advocacy to implement the laws in these places, and newly enshrine them in more communities, remain ongoing.

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Rights of Nature defines the relationship of humanity and nature as interdependent, and allows us to express our deep respect and care for our Earth in modern structures of law. It is a framework that can, in part, help to restore the ancient and life-sustaining concepts that have been obscured by dominant and exploitative social, political, legal and economic structures.

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WECAN International acknowledges that Indigenous Peoples worldwide have already lived in accordance with the principles encapsulated by the Rights of Mother Earth for millennia. Not only have they survived radical changes in environmental conditions, but also they have thrived and created some of the richest, healthiest and longest living cultures on Earth.

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Hand in hand with our advocacy for Rights of Nature is thus an emphasis on the importance of Indigenous wisdom in guiding the development of Earth Laws. It is vital to support intercultural dialogue, led by Indigenous voices, on the meaning, the implications and the correct implementation of Rights of Nature - and to uplift various political struggles faced by Indigenous peoples all over the world in defending their ancestral homelands from cultural and environmental destruction.