Rights Of Nature

The Emancipated Earth
Ecuador’s constitution grants rights to nature. It’s time for the world to follow suit.
An article by Kari Volkmann-Carlsen from the 9 Jun, 2009 Utne Reader.

Photo by Lauren Scott
Recognizing the Rights of Nature is transforming how local to national governments interact with, relate to and govern nature and offers our brightest hope for protecting the earth. A revolutionary model—rights-based organizing—has sprouted. Communities are passing cutting-edge laws that not only assert the rights of residents to make key decisions where they live (like banning corporations from dumping toxic sludge)—the ordinances boldly deny the Constitutional "rights" claimed for corporations by their lawyers. A growing number of communities are taking this one step further, recognizing that nature is not just property—nature has rights: rivers have a right to flow, and ecosystems have the right to flourish and evolve. This model is redefining human governance and relationship with the earth by recognizing Nature's inalienable rights and protecting these rights under law.

A radical concept, perhaps, yet a growing number of U.S. communities, both conservative and progressive, and several countries around the world, with Ecuador taking the lead, are adopting this philosophy and approach to organizing—putting this model into practice and law. Here in the U.S. communities have begun to assert the legal rights of nature in order to protect themselves and their local ecosystems from corporate-led (and State sanctioned) harms. At the global level: Ecuador is ratifying a new Constitution, including a Rights of Nature provision. Other nations, such as Nepal, are poised to follow their lead. The world is watching. Read More!

Read (Natural) History in the Making from the Winter 2009 Global Exchange Newsletter.

Rights of Nature in Ecuador!
Ecuador's new constitution passed Sunday, September 28th, 2008, making them the first nation ever to recognize the inalienable rights of nature. The new constitution includes a series of clauses that recognize the rights of nature to "exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution." The constitution was approved by 60% of the vote.
Visit Raj Patel's site to read about how Ecuador is incorporating rights of nature into their constitution with the assistance of CELDF.

Read Cormac Cullinan's article
"If Nature Had Rights" from the Jan/Feb 2008 article of Orion Magazine.

Rights of Nature Ordinances
Tamaqua Township in Pennsylvania, with the help of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, was the first to pass an ordinance asserting rights for nature. Communities such as East Brunswick, PA; Packer Township, PA; Barnstead, NH; and Halifax, VA have passed similar ordinances protecting the rights of nature while also stripping corporations of constitutional rights in their communities.

View a sample Rights of Nature ordinance

For more information or to inquire about a campaign where you live, contact Shannon Biggs, 415.575.5540 or shannon@globalexchange.org.