| | Earth Law Monthly Update
June 2022 | | Dear Friends: This month, we highlight Rights of Nature in the Convention on Biological Diversity, several events on Ocean Rights, the successful prevention of a timber sale in Penny Wise Legacy Forest, and the first classes of our summer program. We are thrilled to have been given a platform to speak in several different cities, countries, and continents this month. From what we see, the world is hungry to learn about Earth law! Thank you, as always, for the support. -Earth Law Center Team | | | | | | | | Advocacy for Rights of Nature in Global Biodiversity Treaty A coalition of groups led by Earth Law Center, Rights of Nature Sweden, and Rights of Mother Earth are advocating for Rights of Nature language to be included in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The GBF is a guiding plan for the international community to conserve biodiversity over the next 10 years under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a binding international environmental treaty. A recent report released by the third Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG-3) indicates renewed international support for the Rights of Nature with specific references to the “rights of Mother Earth” in bracketed text (meaning subject to negotiation). See our press release for more. Also check out our recommendation (and supplementary report) to the CBD to incorporate the Rights of Nature in the GBF. Released in August 2021, this has been signed by over 200 organizations and individuals across 40+ countries! Share our recent social post on why Rights of Nature in the GBF can enhance biodiversity conservation (below) on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter! | |  | | | | | June is Orca Action Month in Washington! If you missed it, we have been sharing an ‘Orca Story’ every week on our social media! Please share and help raise awareness on our campaign to recognize their legal rights. Do not forget you can visit our newly launched toolkit to learn more about ways you can TAKE ACTION. | |  | | | | | Our Ocean Campaigns Director, Michelle Bender, participated in three events this past month to advance and raise awareness of Ocean Rights. Blue Climate Summit Approximately 200 ocean leaders were invited to the heart of the Pacific to accelerate ocean-related solutions to climate change, launch major announcements, galvanize task forces, present impact investment opportunities, and provide an international forum for Pacific Islanders to spearhead action on ocean and climate issues. At the beginning of the Summit, Stan Rowland, Director of the Blue Climate Initiative, said “I know this is different but I want us all to try and think about the Ocean as a living being and entity with rights.” We are incredibly excited that Ocean Rights was a central point of discussion at the summit and look forward to further learn from communities on how Earth Law can support their work in French Polynesia. Read the summit report to learn more. Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) Capitol Hill Ocean Week featured Rights of Nature for the first time. We delivered a 5-minute TED-style talk in the opening plenary on Ocean Rights as a solution to ensure the Ocean and Great Lakes thrive for future generations. We loved hearing panelists reflect on our intervention and call for a paradigm shift, including Steve Roady, Professor at Duke University School of Law, who said, “at the U.S. level I quite agree we ought to do a better job of looking at things from the Ocean’s point of view.” You can watch the plenary and other sessions on YouTube. Explorers Club Our amazing partner Callie Veelenturf of the Leatherback Project planned and led a panel discussion called Ocean Rights 101 at the Explorers Club Oceans Week 2022. Our Latin American Program Director, Constanza Prieto Figelist, and Diwi Valiente with the Ministry of Tourism and from the Guna Yala community in Panama also offered their perspectives on how Rights of Nature can rebuild our relationship with the Ocean. Thank you to the Explorers Club for having us and helping to spread the word on Ocean Rights! Watch the discussion to learn more. | | | | | | | | Coalition with ELC and Partners Helps Stop Timber Sale in Penny Wise Legacy Forest Advocacy with our partner Center for Responsible Forestry and many others from the local community helped take this Olympic Peninsula (USA) legacy forest off the chopping block for now. The local government has asked to work with the state to create a new approach to managing and protecting legacy forests like Penny Wise. ELC co-hosted a community hike on June 4 to visit the "Pennywise Timber Sale." There's no substitute for taking people into the woods! | | | | | | | | Amicus Brief Filed in Defense of the Chocó Reserve Forest ELC filed an amicus brief and pleaded before the provincial court of Pichincha in Ecuador, representing the rights of the Chocó Reserve Forest. At the hearing, ELC argued that mining activities are an engine for environmental degradation, causing a fracture in the forest ecosystem, interfering with their ecological processes, and violating their intrinsic rights. Mining activities affect forests and accelerate the loss of biodiversity, which provokes the loss of the carbon sink and accelerates climate change. ELC argued that the precautionary principle developed in the recent "Los Cedros" case must guide administrative decision-making on extractive licenses, especially when there is a potential risk of irreparable damage to Nature. | |  | | | | | ELC Participates in Stockholm+50, Advocating for the Inclusion of Rights of Nature Earth Law Center, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN), Rights of Mother Earth, and Rights of Nature Sweden organized a side event at the international Stockholm+50 conference, five decades after the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. The event, called 'The Urgency of Recognizing the Rights of Nature During the Planetary Emergency', had a pluralist panel with visions from the Indigenous world (Patricia Gualinga & Elin Teilus), international organizations (Bruno Oberle), NGOs (Constanza Prieto & Peter Doran), and government representatives (Walter Schultz & David Choquehuanca). The event brought more than 100 people together and reached more than 600 people online. The speakers debated the importance of adopting an ecocentric cosmovision in the UNEP recommendations for action for the next 50 years, and how, consequently, that paradigm shift can help face the triple planetary crises. Stockholm+50 was a historic event for international Earth law. Positioning the Rights of Nature on that forum gave momentum to our organizations and the Rights of Nature movement. Watch the recording of the event to learn more. | |  | | | | | ELC Participates in Rights of Nature Forum On May 31, a group of institutions in the State of Mexico hosted a forum called 'The Rights of Mother Earth and 2030 Agenda'. Claudia Brindis, ELC's Operative Director of Mexico, participated with the goal of advancing a new educational model that builds stronger relationships between human society and Nature. "100,000 species disappear every year. Protecting them requires both new laws, such as those upholding the rights of waters, forests, and species, as well as new educational models that transform our consciousness in relation to Nature." As a result of this meeting, 1,500 "Guardians of Nature" joined in promoting the Rights of Nature, including many enthusiastic students of CETis and CBTis (chains of Mexico high schools). | |  | | | | | ELC Participates in Parliament for Mother Earth ELC's Claudia Brindis participated in the 2nd International Session of the Parliament for Mother Earth on June 7. Representatives from 31 countries gathered at Chamber of Congress in Mexico City, including mayors, legislators, public officials, and civil society organizations in a joint effort for Life and the Future of Our Mother Earth. Claudia was applauded by those present as she shared progress of the Rights of Nature in Mexico over the past 10 years and discussed the next steps to consolidate the movement. | |  | | | | | | | Summer Earth Law Program in Full Swing ELC's award-winning summer course is off to a bang! Taught by industry experts and the ELC team, we have had incredible sessions from critiquing modern environmental law to taking responsibility for Nature and future generations. The course’s goal is to expose people to a Rights of Nature framework through an array of real-world legal projects — like crafting an ecozoic glossary and creating a draft to declare Rights of the Mediterranean, among others. With over 150 participants, we are thrilled with the level of enthusiastic involvement and stimulating conversations. Looking forward to next month's classes and learning more in July! Contact Tony Zelle at tonyzelle@earthlaw.org to learn more. | |  | | | | | ELC's mission is to transform the law to honor and protect Nature's inherent right to exist, thrive, and evolve. | | | | | | | | | | Contact Us Earth Law Center
PO Box 3164
Boulder, Colorado 80307
510-566-1063
info@earthlaw.org | | | | | | | |
