This year the New Zealand parliament voted to give legal personhood to a river and provided for the appointment of two guardians to represent it. In India a court extended legal personhood to the Ganges and Yamuna rivers and the glaciers that feed them.

It defies our normal modes of thinking that natural entities such as trees, rivers, mountains, lakes, and glaciers should be given legal standing in courts and public life. And yet we take as a matter of course the legal rights of other inanimate entities:
The world of the lawyer is peopled with inanimate right-holders: trusts, corporations, joint ventures, municipalities, Subchapter R partnerships, and nation-states, to mention just a few. Ships, still referred to by courts in the feminine gender, have long had an independent jural life, often with striking consequences.

The quotation comes from a famous law review article on the topic of rights for natural entities entitled “Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights For Natural Objects,” written in 1972 by Christopher Stone, a professor of law at the University of Southern California.

Perhaps our most important blind spot is that we forget that we humans are natural entities as well. Scientists study our bodies just as they do the bodies of other animals–except that these scientists are not allowed to kill humans to dissect them or expose them to potentially harmful substances without informed consent. (Animal rights activists would argue that such protections should be extended to all animals.)

Ultimately, what’s at stake is what our relationship with other natural entities will be and whether it is in our interest to grant them legal rights. It is well to remember that full legal rights for women, African-Americans, Native Americans, the mentally and physically disabled, and many other disadvantaged groups were once unthinkable, too. And yet, today few would argue against including these previously excluded groups within the realm of legal personhood.

But, one might say, these are people and belong to a special category. Nature cannot speak for itself as we humans do. To which law review author Stone replies:

It is not inevitable, nor is it wise, that natural objects should have no rights to seek redress in their own behalf. It is no answer to say that streams and forests cannot have standing because streams and forests cannot speak. Corporations cannot speak either; nor can states, estates, infants, incompetents, municipalities or universities. Lawyers speak for them, as they customarily do for the ordinary citizen with legal problems.

Now, perhaps the most important phrase in the above quotation is “in their own behalf.” This explains why we might not regard it as sufficient merely to compel people by law and by custom to take care of natural entities. When natural entities do not have independent advocacy, it is all too easy to consider them merely as the instruments of humans. We call them “resources” and that means they are for our use as we please. Nature becomes merely a great vat of primordial clay from which we humans can take whatever we want and shape it to our needs without regard to the needs of any other entities.

read more…

July 6, 2015 – A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-captures-epic-earth-image

Happy Earth Day 2016! I thought this was beautifully articulated today by The Gaia Foundation in London.

What is Earth Jurisprudence?

In response to the multiple eco-social crises we face today, cultural historian and Gaia patron, Thomas Berry, called for a paradigm shift from a human-centred to an Earth-centred world view. Thomas believed, as we do, that today we need an Earth Jurisprudence – a deep philosophy and a way of governing our societies that recognises that the Earth is the primary source of the laws we must live by.

The Earth’s laws govern life on our planet, including our own. We are born into a lawful and ordered Universe and our responsibility as one of many species is to understand and respect these laws and living processes. Our governance systems need to be derived from these laws and our ways of life guided by them. Indigenous peoples who maintain their ways of life recognise this reality. The violation of these laws, as we are now witnessing, leads to ecological, climatic, social, and economic chaos.

This understanding, that human well-being is intrinsically linked to the well-being of Earth, is common to indigenous cultures and the way in which humans have understood our place in the world for most of our history. The idea that humans are superior and unaccountable to Nature rather than inextricably part of her, has led to a planetary crisis.  We have become profoundly disconnected from the Earth and treat the Earth as a collection of objects or ‘resources’ to be used rather than a community to which we belong.

Earth Jurisprudence acknowledges that the good of the whole takes precedence over the good of the individual elements. This is the foundational thought for the transition away from an extractive relationship with our planet and each other, fostered by the modern industrial society and the ideology of the growth economy. The way we govern ourselves needs to embody an ethical code of practice which requires us to live according to Nature’s laws for the well-being of the whole of Earth Community and future generations of all species.

More to explore through their work at The Gaia Foundation: https://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=02c4daf3f04db09cb03d78dc8&id=0a94625203&e=d742d2ce4c

Tribunal judges include:

• Carl Anthony (Breakthrough Communities; Urban Habitat)
• Brian Swimme (California Institute of Integral Studies; Journey of the Universe)
• Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute)
• Courtney Cummings (Arikara and Cheyenne; Native Wellness Center, Richmond)
• Bill Twist (Pachamama Alliance)

The day will also include:

• The “Web of Life Labyrinth,” created by local artists
• Local music; food for purchase
• Insights from Bay Area ecological justice, human rights, local economy, indigenous, women’s, and other groups.

Save your space for this important event; register now at: https://therightsofnature.org/events/bayareatribunal.

New Zealand—Aotearoa, as it is known to the indigenous Maori people—the Whanganui River is now a legal person. Photo By Aidan

In a land where corporations are considered people, it’s a bit of a leap to imagine nature attaining the same status. But as Brendan Kennedy reports for Cultural Survival Quarterly (December 2012), in New Zealand—Aotearoa, as it is known to the indigenous Maori people—the Whanganui River is now a legal person.

“Indigenous peoples around the world often struggle with governments that do not recognize their view of the natural environment,” writes Kennedy. Where the Maori strive to conserve and enhance, non-Maori typically seek to industrialize and maximize profit. Thus, indigenous worldviews often directly conflict with non-indigenous practices of property ownership. Awarding the river personhood status, then, is a significant victory for the Maori.

According to the new agreement, the river will have two guardians—one appointed by the Whanganui Iwi tribe and one by the British Crown—that promote the physical, ecological, spiritual, and cultural rights of the river.

Such an agreement has few precedents, however. While the news brings hope, Kennedy warns of the possibility that the river’s guardians might restrict Whanganui Iwi rights to the river with no room for recourse. Still, he calls the agreement cause for “cautious optimism as Indigenous Peoples continue to fight for the recognition of their views of the natural world.”

Here is another article about this river and topic: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/i-am-river-and-river-me-implications-river-receiving

May 24, 2013

Dolphins gain unprecedented protection in India

India has officially recognized dolphins as non-human persons, whose rights to life and liberty must be respected. Dolphin parks that were being built across the country will instead be shut down.

India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests has advised state governments to ban dolphinariums and other commercial entertainment that involves the capture and confinement of cetacean species such as orcas and bottlenose dolphins. In a statement, the government said research had clearly established cetaceans are highly intelligent and sensitive, and that dolphins “should be seen as ‘non-human persons’ and as such should have their own specific rights.”

The move comes after weeks of protest against a dolphin park in the state of Kerala and several other marine mammal entertainment facilities which were to be built this year. Animal welfare advocates welcomed the decision.

“This opens up a whole new discourse of ethics in the animal protection movement in India,” said Puja Mitra from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO). Mitra is a leading voice in the Indian movement to end dolphin captivity.

Indian officials say it is morally unacceptable to exploit cetaceans in commercial entertainment

“The scientific evidence we provided during the campaign talked about cetacean intelligence and introduced the concept of non-human persons,” she said in an interview with DW.

Indiais the fourth country in the world to ban the capture and import of cetaceans for the purpose of commercial entertainment – along with Costa Rica, Hungary, and Chile.

Dolphins are persons, not performers

The movement to recognize whale and dolphins as individuals with self-awareness and a set of rights gained momentum three years ago in Helsinki, Finland when scientists and ethicists drafted a Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans. “We affirm that all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and well-being,” they wrote.

Dolphins are naturally playful and curious, which has made them popular with aqurium visitors

The signatories included leading marine scientist Lori Marino who produced evidence that cetaceans have large, complex brains especially in areas involved in communication and cognition. Her work has shown that dolphins have a level of self-awareness similar to that of human beings. Dolphins can recognize their own reflection, use tools and understand abstract concepts. They develop unique signature whistles allowing friends and family members to recognize them, similar to the way human beings use names.

“They share intimate, close bonds with their family groups. They have their own culture, their own hunting practices – even variations in the way they communicate,” said FIAPO’s Puja Mitra.

But it is precisely this ability to learn tricks and charm audiences that have made whales and dolphins a favorite in aquatic entertainment programs around the world.

Seaworld slaughter

Disposable personal income has increased in India and there is a growing market for entertainment. Dolphin park proposals were being considered in Delhi, Kochi and Mumbai.

India’s growing middle class is hungry for entertainment

“There’s nothing like having a few animals on display, particularly ones that are so sensitive and intelligent as these dolphins,” said Belinda Wright from the Wildlife Protection Society of India in an interview with DW. “It’s a good money making proposition.”

But audiences are usually oblivious to the documented suffering of these marine performers.

“The majority of dolphins and whales in captivity have been sourced through wild captures in Japan, in Taiji, in the Caribbean, in the Solomon Islands and parts of Russia. These captures are very violent,” Mitra explained.

“They drive groups of dolphins into shallow bay areas where young females whose bodies are unmarked and are thought to be suitable for display are removed. The rest are often slaughtered.”

Mitra argued that the experience of captivity is tantamount to torture. She explained that orcas and other dolphins navigate by using sonar signals, but in tanks, the reverberations bounce off the walls, causing them “immense distress”. She described dolphins banging their heads on the walls and orcas wearing away their teeth as they pull at bars and bite walls.

Tanks terminated

In response to the new ban, the Greater Cochin Development Authority (CGDA) told DW that it has withdrawn licenses for a dolphin park in the city of Kochi, where there have been massive animal rights demonstrations in recent months.

Will the ban on captive dolphin exploitation lead to more protection for other highly intelligent non-humans?

“It is illegal now,” said N. Venugopal, who heads the CGDA. “It is over. We will not allow it anymore.”

He said the government hadn’t lost money on the development but declined to comment on how much the dolphin park was worth.

Boost for Ganges River dolphin

It’s possible that India’s new ban on cetacean captivity will lead to renewed interest in protecting the country’s own Ganges River dolphin.

“I hope this will put some energy into India’s Action Plan for the Gangetic Dolphin, which is supposed to run until 2020,” said Belinda Wright from the Wildlife Protection Society of India. “But there’s been very little action.

She said the ban was a good first stop, but warned against excessive optimism. “I’m very proud that India has done this,” she said. “I’m not trying to be cynical but I have been a conservationist in India for four decades. One gets thrilled with the wording, but I don’t think it’s going to turn to the tables.”

“But dolphins for now are safe from dolphinariums, and that’s a good thing,” she added.

It begins:

The following milestones chart the evolution of Earth Jurisprudence or Earth Law, which recognises the Earth as the primary source of law and the need to comply with these laws to restore the health and integrity of the whole Earth Community and future generations. Key dates include the practice and development of Earth Law principles, intercultural exchanges, legal precedents, events, publications and emergence of alliances.

Deep roots – Time immemorial

For millennia indigenous peoples have been living according to the laws of Earth and developed Earth-centred customs, lores and way of life to ensure they maintain the health and integrity of the whole Earth Community, for present and future generations.

Beginning 20th Century

The writings of philosophers such as Jung and Einstein confirmed that for most of human history we have understood that the Earth is the source of law. The industrial belief that law is made by humans is very recent and dangerous – as they and others warned.

1945

Following the Atomic bomb, Einstein warned that: ‘With the splitting of the atom, everything has changed, save our mode of thinking and thus we drift toward unparalleled disaster.’ Einstein reminded us that our Earth is finite.

It continues at www.gaiafoundation.org/history-earth-law

11th April, 2013 – Posted by Shannon Biggs
Reprinted from Global Exchange Media Release
First-in-California law seeks to make sustainability legal

On April 9, the City Council of Santa Monica voted 7-0 to adopt the state’s first ever Bill of Rights for Sustainability, directing the city to “recognize the rights of people, natural communities and ecosystems to exist, regenerate and flourish.” Santa Monica joins dozens of U.S. communities, the nations of Ecuador, Bolivia, and New Zealand in the fast-growing movement for Nature’s Rights.

With the passage of this ordinance, Santa Monica challenges the legal status of nature as merely property, and empowers the City or residents to bring suit on behalf of local ecosystems. While not eliminating property ownership, these new laws seek to eliminate the authority of a property owner to destroy entire ecosystems that exist and depend upon that property. The ordinance also mandates the City to follow the Sustainable City Plan as a guide for decision-making to maximize environmental benefits and reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts.

“As a city with very little green space or fresh local water, becoming a model for sustainability and moving toward self-reliance is important for our community’s long term well-being,” says Cris Guttierez, organizer for Santa Monica Neighbors Unite!, a group that organized and mobilized residents to support the law. “We’re proud to be on the cutting edge of environmental protection.”

more https://therightsofnature.org/tag/celdf/

Because you are our valued partner in creating a just, thriving, sustainable world, I had to write to you today with some big news out of Ecuador.

This past Wednesday (July 25, 2012), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the State of Ecuador is responsible for violating the rights of the indigenous Kichwa people of Sarayaku, by not having executed free, prior, and informed consultation before starting an oil development project on their land in the late 1990s.

After over a decade of struggle, the ruling is wonderful news for the Sarayaku people and their allies. It’s also good news for all of us who believe that we must draw on the best of indigenous wisdom and modern knowledge to create a just, thriving, and sustainable future.

The ruling is significant in that it establishes a new and higher standard as to how consultation with indigenous communities must be undertaken: in good faith, through culturally appropriate procedures that are aimed at reaching consent.

Consultations cannot simply consist in sharing decisions that have been already taken. States must make a real effort to establish an open and honest dialogue, based on mutual trust and respect and with the aim of reaching a consensus–this means not imposing anything upon indigenous peoples or unilaterally forging ahead with projects that will substantially affect their rights.

This ruling should dramatically affect Ecuadorian plans for development of the whole southern Amazon region of Ecuador.

Among those plans are the oil concessions currently scheduled to open for bidding this October in the ancestral territories of the Achuar and six other indigenous nations. So you can see why this is big news!

Visit our website for history of the case, a statement from the People of Sarayaku, analysis from Fundación Pachamama. pachamama.org/sarayaku

There’s still much work to be done to ensure that the standards established in this ruling support other indigenous peoples whose lands are under threat.

Even so, I wanted to take this moment to express our gratitude and celebrate this success for the rights of indigenous people everywhere. I hope you will, too.

In solidarity for our shared future,

Bill Twist

The Pachamama Alliance

PO Box 29191, Presidio Bldg 1009
San Francisco, CA 94129
(415) 561-4522
www.pachamama.org
info@pachamama.org

Text here below.

STATEMENT OF COMMON AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAWS FOR THE PROTECTION OF SACRED SITES

28 April 2012

Nanyuki Custodian Meeting, Kenya

We, custodians of Sacred Sites from four African countries, are working together to revive our traditions and to protect our Sacred Sites and Territories. We are deeply concerned about our Earth because she is suffering from increasing destruction despite all the discussions, international meetings, facts and figures and warning signs from Earth. The future of our children and the children of all the species of Earth are threatened. When this last generation of elders dies, we will lose the memory of how to live respectfully on our planet, if we do not learn from them. Our generation living now has a responsibility like no other generation before us. Our capacity to stop the current addiction to money from destroying the very conditions of life and the health of our planet, will determine our children’s future. We call on Governments, corporations, law and policy makers, and civil society to recognize that Africa has Sacred Sites and custodians who are responsible for protecting them, in order to protect the well being of the planet.

PREAMBLE

The whole Earth is Sacred. Within the body of our Earth there are places which are especially sensitive, because of the special role they play in ecosystems. We call these places Sacred Sites. Each Sacred Site plays a different role, like the organs in our body. All of life is infused with spirit. Sacred Sites exist everywhere, including in Africa. They are spiritual places created by God at the time of the Creation of our Earth, where our Custodial Clans have been praying and giving offerings since time immemorial. Our responsibility is to protect God’s Creation, and to ensure that these especially holy places are not disturbed in any way. Their role and significance cannot be replaced.

Sacred Sites are sources of law. They are centres of knowledge and inter-generational learning. Our governance systems are established through our relationship with and responsibility towards Sacred Sites. We are the generation of custodians who carry the responsibility of ensuring that we all learn from the elders of today, who are the last generation with living knowledge of nurturing the health and integrity of our Earth, passed on directly from generations before them. We emphasize the importance of using our local language because it embodies the meaning given by our Creator. We each have a local name for our Sacred Sites, for example Zwifho in Venda, South Africa; Kaya in Giriama, Irii in Tharaka and Meru, Mathembo in Kamba, Karigai in Ari Gikuyu, Kenya; Awulia in Afan Oromo and Adbar in Amharic, Ethiopia; and Ihangiro in Banyoro and Batoro, Kiggwa in Baganda, Uganda. We agreed to use the word ‘Sacred Sites’ as a common term to describe our potent places, despite its limitation of meaning.

OUR COMMON CUSTOMARY LAWS OF SACRED SITES

1. Sacred Sites are the source of life. Sacred Sites are where we come from, the heart of life. They are our roots and our inspiration. We cannot live without our Sacred Sites and we are responsible for protecting them.
2. Sacred Sites are places where spiritual power is potent. They are energetic points in the landscape. They are places where God, spirits and ancestors are present. The sacredness of the Sacred Site reaches deep into the Earth and up into the sky. They are places of worship, like temples, where we Custodians are responsible for leading prayers and offering rituals with our Clan and communities.
3. Sacred Sites are natural places in our Territory, such as sources of water, rivers, crossing points, wetlands, forests, trees, and mountains which are home for plants, animals, birds, insects and all of life. Our Sacred Sites protect the diversity of plants and animals and all the life which belong in our ecosystem. Because of the threats from the outside world, they are now the last safe places for God’s Creation.
4. Sacred Sites are the home of rain, which falls for all communities, our land, and all of life. When there is drought, for example, we carry out rituals in our Sacred Sites, which bring rain. The potency of our Sacred Sites and our practices are able to stabilize some of the local climatic changes. However this is increasingly disturbed due to industrial society’s destructive beliefs and behaviour towards Sacred Sites and the Earth as a whole.
5. Each Sacred Site has a Story of Origin, of how they were established by God at the time of the Creation of the Universe. Sacred Sites existed before people. They are not made by humans. Sacred Sites were revealed to our ancestors who passed on the original Story and Law of Creation of how they came to be in our Territory.

6. Sacred Sites are places where we pray and perform rituals to our God through invoking the spirit of our ancestors and all of Creation. Rituals strengthen our relationship amongst ourselves as a community, with our land, our ancestors and our God. Our offerings, such as indigenous seed, milk, honey, and sacrifices of goats, sheep or cows, are our way of sharing and giving thanks to God and God’s Creation, our Earth.
7. These rituals and prayers maintain the order and health of our communities and our Territories. As Custodians we are responsible for ensuring that we carry out the required rituals during the year, such as before we plant our seeds or reap our harvests. They cleanse and potentise our people and our Sacred Sites.
8. Sacred Sites are places of healing and peace. When our communities have problems, for example with ill health or lack of rain, we do a specific ritual to deal with the challenges. After we receive the blessing, we perform a thanksgiving ritual. Sacred Sites are places where we can resolve conflict and maintain harmony among people and all beings. There are different rituals for different needs.
9. Each Sacred Site has Custodians chosen by God at the time of Creation. Not everyone is a Custodian of Sacred Sites. Custodians lead the rituals for our Clans and communities. There are men and women custodians with different roles. Custodians have to lead a disciplined life following certain customs, restrictions, times and protocols, according to the ancestral law, in order for our rituals to be acceptable and to have effect.
10. Sacred Sites are sources of wisdom. This wisdom and the knowledge gained by our ancestors over generations, is passed on from generation to generation. We are responsible for ensuring that our living knowledge of how to live respectfully on Earth is passed on to the next generation of Custodians. This knowledge cannot be learnt through writing and books, but is earned through life-long experience and rigorous practice with our elders.
11. Sacred Sites are connected to each other and function as a network or system. If one is damaged it affects all the others. Together we, as Custodians of different countries, are protecting networks of Sacred Sites across Africa.
12. Sacred Sites give us the law of how to govern ourselves so that we maintain the order and wellbeing of our Territory. Cutting of trees, taking away water or disturbing Sacred Sites in any way is prohibited. These laws are non-negotiable.
13. We are responsible for protecting our Sacred Sites and Territories through our Custodial governance systems, which are based on our ancestral Law of Origin. Our Sacred Sites and our governance systems need to be recognised and respected on their own terms, so that we are able to maintain our cultural and ecological integrity and continuity. We are responsible to our ancestors, who have nurtured our traditions for generations, and to the children of the future, to ensure that they inherit a healthy Earth.
14. Sacred Sites are No-Go Areas – Sacred Sites are places which need to be respected by everyone, so that they remain the way God made them – in their diversity of life forms. We are responsible to ensure their continuity and wellbeing. This means they are out of bounds for any other activities:
i. Not for tourism – as these are holy places which are not for entertainment. There are many other places where tourists can go.
ii. Not for other religious activities – just as we do not do our rituals in churches and mosques, or criticize other religions, because we respect the diverse ways in which humans pray to God, others should respect our indigenous ways.
iii. Not for research and documentation – because Sacred Sites are our holy places with related spiritual knowledge and practices, and cannot be written down by others. We are the only ones who can write down what we wish to communicate to others, because it is our sacred knowledge.
iv. Not for mining or extractive activities – because these are our holy places, our temples, and they play a vital role in maintaining the health of our Earth – as sources of water, rain, plants, animals, regulating climate, and maintaining energetic stability.
v. Not for any ‘development’ or ‘investments’, meaning land- grabbing in all its forms – because Sacred Sites are not for making money. Our children need a healthy planet with clean air, water and food from healthy soils. They cannot eat money as food or breathe money or drink money. If there is no water, there is no life.
vi. Not for foreign law – because Sacred Sites give us the Law of Origin, which existed since Creation of the Universe, before humans. The dominant legal system should recognize our customary laws, which are based on the Laws of Life.
vii. Not for foreign seed – our rituals and prayers require only indigenous seeds which Custodians have planted themselves, as this is what our ancestors and the Territory recognize as acceptable. Genetically modified (GM) seed is strictly prohibited and our Territories are GM free areas.
viii. Not for any other activities which may undermine the Law of Origin and the life of our Sacred Sites and our Earth.

We call on everyone to join forces and take responsibility to protect our Earth and respect Sacred Sites, as our common duty to future generations at this time of deep crisis for life on our planet. This statement was drawn together by Custodians of Sacred Sites from Tharaka, Meru, Kamba and Magarini areas/territories in Kenya; Buganda and Bunyoro in Uganda; Bale and Suba in Ethiopia; and from Venda, Limpopo Province, South Africa. The work of the Custodians is accompanied by the African Biodiversity Network (ABN) through its partners Porini Association, MELCA-Ethiopia, Mupo Foundation, National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE); and the Gaia Foundation.

You may remember that ‘The Future We Want’ was the theme of the Rio +20 Summit.

Disappointedly the majority of world leaders decided that our future lies on the continued commodificatiion of Nature as an economic service for humans.

However around the world communities and social movements are uniting to amplify the voice of Earth and all her children. They are calling for respect of Earth’s sacredness and of her rights to be, to flourish and to participate in the evolution of life.

Respect Our Sacred Earth

Recently Custodians of Sacred Natural Sites from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Africa met in Nanyuki, Kenya, to explore the deep meaning of our Sacred Earth and share their experiences of working with communities to revive their indigenous knowledge, practices and governance systems for protecting their Sacred Natural Sites. Sharing concerns of the growing threats to our Sacred Earth, the Custodians drafted a Statement of the Common African Customary Laws for the Protection of Sacred Sites, with support of partner organisations in the African Biodiversity Network.

This Statement provides important guidance on how Sacred Natural Sites should be recognised and respected as No-Go areas for any activity other than the expected spiritual practices. The Custodians remind us that: ‘Our generation living now has a responsibility like no other generation before us. Our capacity to stop the current addiction to money from destroying the very conditions of life and the health of our planet, will determine our children’s future.’

The Custodians invite you to share the Statement (next blog post) among your networks and especially with Custodians, so that people can understand about the deep meaning of Sacred Natural Sites and how they need to be respected as the living temples of indigenous cultures.

Respect Rights of Nature

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and others amplified the voice of Nature at the Rio+20 Summit, and presented over 116,700 signatures (and fast increasing) from 113 nations and 189 organisations, to the UN General-Secretary Ban Ki-Moon.

Please do sign the petition to help reach the goal of 1 million signatures and watch the panel discussion on the Rights of Nature here.

During the Rio Summit a glimmer of hope was the recognition of the need to live in harmony with Nature and paragraph 39 of the formal Rio+20 The Future We Want document acknowledged that some counties recognise the Rights of Nature. The Universal Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth was also officially signed by advocates for Earth Law.

The United Nations has now established a website on Living in Harmony with Nature.

Do keep promoting the voice of Earth and all her children and do share any updates with the group.

Many thanks
best wishes
Carine Nadal

Earth Jurisprudence Resource Centre Coordinator and legal researcher
The Gaia Foundation
6 Heathgate Place
Agincourt Road
London NW3 2NU
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 20 74280053
Fax: +44 20 74280056
www.gaiafoundation.org

To the children, to all the children,
to the children who swim beneath the waves
of the sea, to those who live in the soils of the earth, to the children of the flowers in the meadows
and the trees in the forest, to all those children
who roam over the land and the winged ones who fly with the winds, to the human children too,
that all the children may go together into the future in the full diversity of their regional communities.

Thomas Berry, 1914-2009

The Gaia Foundation is very pleased to be able to share “Reviving Our Culture, Mapping Our Future”, a short film produced in collaboration with our partners the Mupo Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network. Please visit vimeo.com/channels/gaia to watch.