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Bioneers talk from 2022 Bioneers Conference published October 10, 2022
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The “Rights of Nature” movement seeks to protect rivers, mountains, and entire ecosystems and the life forms supported within them by recognizing and enshrining their rights in formal legal codes and constitutions. This legal framework offers a radically different worldview from current legal premises. Instead of being seen as property, nature as a whole and its various components would be formally recognized to have inherent rights to exist, persist, flourish and evolve, and these would be protected under the law. For over 15 years, the Rights of Nature movement has caught fire across the U.S. and the rest of the world in some of the most and least expected places, from tribal lands to “progressive” cities, to coal country, to Latin American nations. In this session, activist attorneys leading the movement in Indian Country and beyond give an update on their successes and the challenges ahead. With: Frank Bibeau; Thomas Linzey; Samantha Skenandore. Moderated by Alexis Bunten.
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Introduced 2024
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The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) has launched its Land That Owns Itself Program.
This program is focused on transforming nature from human property to self-ownership and self-governance, separate from human interference and control. As we face growing global environmental crises, we need to examine and acknowledge how humankind has ripped holes in the very fabric of life – bringing about the Sixth Great Extinction event on Earth, ecosystem collapse, and climate change – how we have disrupted the natural systems of our home planet through human action. |
Author: Dan Barth
Dan Barth, a core team member of Wisconsin Rights of Nature, is a regular contributor to the Wausau Pilot & Review, a local news publication in Wausau, Wisconsin. He has written several opinion pieces and letters to the editor on various topics, particularly focusing on environmental issues and sustainability. |
Dan Barth writes:
Late in the afternoon about three months ago, my wife and I were given the opportunity to time travel right here in Central Wisconsin, and we took it. Time machines are stashed here and there in these parts, though to most they’d look like a pond, or a small wetland, or even the little pockets of water that dot the woods each spring. I had just put away my ax after splitting some of next winter’s firewood when we set off down the road. We had barely gone a hundred yards when we unexpectedly stepped through a kind of science fiction portal into a soundscape around 200 million years old. Our time trip came about compliments of a choir of frogs fresh out of hibernation singing their ancient songs of love. It was their first chorus of this new year. We stood listening, pleased and honored to be part of their audience. |
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Laws that establish legal rights for nature are being pursued in a growing number of countries to protect the environment. The success or failure of these rights-of-nature laws can depend in large part on how scientific concepts and expertise have been used to develop, interpret, and implement them.
Over the past 15 years, legal rights for nature have gone from a fanciful idea to legal fact in a growing number of countries. To date, these laws have had the greatest legal impact in the Global South, where Indigenous activism, political conflicts, and lack of effective environmental laws have provided opportunity and incentive for legal experimentation, but they have also been enacted at the local level in North America.
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Dominion:
To take care of the Earth, humans must recognise that we are both a part of the animal kingdom and its dominant power We are ethically conflicted about our looming fate. How much more should we grow as a species? Do we have an obligation to leave future generations with a biosphere that is as rich and diverse as the one we inherited? How should we distribute the associated costs between poor and rich nations, between producers and consumers, and between institutions and individuals? These are important, pressing issues. Beneath many of these questions lies a more fundamental ethical quandary: what should we do about our ability to so easily dominate other species and the environment? It is a problem that has become urgent. Should we disavow our dominance and attempt to minimise it? Or should we embrace our powers to alter Earth and its inhabitants?
Perhaps we shouldn’t do either. |
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Recognising the rights of nature is seen by many as the paradigm shift needed to truly embed ecology and the environment into nature-based policy and management solutions to address biodiversity loss, climate change, and sustainable development. However, despite its potential, research across and beyond disciplinary boundaries remains very limited, with most located in the humanities and social sciences and often lacking connection with environmental sciences. Based on a multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary project, we identify some critical common themes among the humanities, social sciences, and environmental sciences to support future research on the potential of the rights of nature to address contemporary social-environmental challenges. We argue that future research needs to be not only interdisciplinary but also transdisciplinary since the movement of rights of nature is often driven by and based on knowledge emerging outside of academic disciplines.
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From Global Campus of Human Rights
A novel approach to environmental protection has emerged in the law, known as Rights of Nature (RoN). RoN proponents claim that nature is a legal subject possessing inherent rights. This ecocentric discourse shows striking similarities with human rights law. |
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(This is a recorded Zoom presentation)
An enlightening conversation where we delve into the importance of acknowledging and respecting the Rights of Nature. Learn how recognizing the rights of nature can create awareness in our communities and foster a deeper understanding of our interconnectedness with the natural world. Recently Milwaukee County became the First in WI to pass a Rights of Nature Resolution. We will explore what a Rights of Nature Resolution means and shed light on how recognizing these rights can lead to a more sustainable and harmonious coexistence between humans and the environment. Our presenter Anahkwet (Guy Reiter), a traditional Menominee from Wisconsin, member of the Menominee Constitutional Taskforce and Executive Director of the grassroots community organization, Menikahnaehkem, is a local organizer, activist, author, amateur archaeologist, and lecturer. He has organized a wide range of events on Menominee culture, spoken at a number of universities, and written articles for Environmental Health News and other publications. Resources cited in the video: www.rightsofnaturewi.org www.waukeshacountygreenteam.org www.waukeshacountygreenteam.org/creation-care-network www.centerforenvironmentalrights.org |
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Dr. Robin Kimmerer is a mother, plant ecologist, writer and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York. She serves as the founding Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability.
Prof. Ursula Goodenough is a Professor of Biology Emerita at Washington University. She and many others are developing what is called a religious naturalist orientation and a new edition of her book, The Sacred Depths of Nature, describes her understanding of this orientation and was recently published by Oxford University Press.
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Rights of Nature are the beginning of a new legal paradigm in western culture. The idea argues that nature holds inalienable rights, and that vital parts of Nature — a river or watershed or ecosystem — shall be granted personhood in the court of law and be provided with legal standing to defend itself.
The idea for Rights of Nature generally dates back to 1972 when professor Christopher Stone published the article, “Should trees have standing – toward legal rights for natural objects.” The concept is often credited alongside indigenous cultures in America for the way they relate to and treat the environment that sustains their way of life. |
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It’s wrongheaded to protect nature with human-style rightsAnna Grear - Professor of law at Cardiff University, and the founder and editor in chief of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment.
How can the law account for the value of complex, nonhuman entities such as rivers, lakes, forests and ecosystems? At a time of runaway climate change, when the Earth’s biosphere is on the brink of collapse and species extinctions are accelerating, this has become a vital question.
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IES students pondered this question posed by the staff at the Center for Humans and Nature as part of the Center's Resilient Future series. Read our students' thoughtful responses.
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Dr. Karen Bakker - Professor at the University of British Columbia and a Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Study
With digital bioacoustics, scientists can eavesdrop on the natural world – and they’re learning some astonishing things
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Katie Surma - Reporter at Inside Climate News focusing on international environmental law and justice
The nonbinding agreement nods to a growing understanding that future conservation efforts must promote the well-being of Indigenous peoples—and that forests, mountains and rivers have rights of their own.
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Beronda_Montgomery - writer, science communicator, and researcher at Grinnell College acting as as vice president for academic affairs and dean
Plants are important. They maintain our atmosphere, nourish other living organisms and benefit us psychologically by creating beautiful landscapes around us. Plants “know” what and who they are, and they use this knowledge to make their way in the world and maximise their chances of survival.
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Trisha Burke - Creative Content Specialist and Editorial Director/ Sr. Writer for Native Hope
When called upon to think about something as essential yet basic as water, most don’t give its existence a second thought. Many people associate this life-sustaining substance with abundance, purity, and permanence.
Images of vibrant rivers flowing, sparkling lakes, and powerful waterfalls come to mind. However, this is not the full picture. Although we take for granted the rain and direct access to flowing water, by way of our taps and faucets, water is precious and scarce in many communities across the world, throughout the country, and within numerous tribal nations. |
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Winona LaDuke - American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development.
Since time immemorial, Indigenous Peoples have protected the earth’s precious water systems in recognition of our dependence on these living ecosystems. Water Protectors are earth warriors who put their bodies on the line in the face of powerful, violent and destructive extractive industries supported by Wiindigoo governors.
— Pamela Palmater, Author of Warrior Life You can find this book at Honor the Earth, an organization founded by Winona LaDuke.
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Producers: Issac Goeckeritz, Hal Crimmel, María Valeria Berros
Writer: Hal Crimmel Narrator: Shawn Murdock Editor / Camera: Issac Goeckeritz Audio Post Engineer: Gerald Hartly |
Western views and the legal system tend to view nature as property, and as a resource from which wealth is extracted, a commodity whose only value is to provide for human needs. But for millennia indigenous communities have viewed themselves as part of nature.
As pressures on ecosystems mount and as conventional laws seem increasingly inadequate to address environmental degradation, communities, cities, regions and countries around the world are turning to a new legal strategy known as The Rights of Nature. This film takes viewers on a journey that explores the more recent origins of this legal concept, and its application and implementation in Ecuador, New Zealand, and the United States. Learn how constitutional reforms adopted in Ecuador have helped recognize nature as a legal entity, and how partnerships between the Māori and the government of New Zealand have led to personhood status for rivers, lakes and forests, and a renewed sense of balance between people and nature. See how the Rights of Nature function in the urban setting of Santa Monica, California. The film explores the successes and challenges inherent in creating new legal structures that have the potential to maintain and restore ecosystems while achieving a balance between humans and nature. |
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This tool has galvanized local groups, grassroots advocates and diverse stakeholders to protect their local waters by identifying the many ways that every person can track, influence, and change the way the law is implemented at the federal, state, and local levels.
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New York Times Climate Forward:
A growing number of countries and courts say the environment should be endowed with legal rights. Overall, humanity has made a lot of progress, albeit uneven, over the past decades. Our environment, on the other hand, might be in worse shape than ever. So, what if we all agreed that nature had basic rights similar to human rights?
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