Rights of Nature – Introduction to key principles and analysis of recent cases (Recorded Webinar)

On 8th November 2022, Earth Law Alliance, in collaboration with Earth Thrive and Consensus Law Magazine, hosted a webinar focusing on Rights of Nature, in which we explored the growing number of court cases and legislation around the world, in which rivers, mountains and forests are acknowledged as having inherent rights. The right to exist, to thrive, to regenerate, to be restored – among others. What are the implications of this development for legal systems?

Contents of this video

00:00 – Introduction

03:21 – Natalia Greene, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature – overview of Rights of Nature and recent case law developments

18:28 – Eduardo Salazar Ortuño, Eco Justicia – Mar Menor legal personhood / rights case

33:42 – Grant Wilson, Earth Law Center – hurdles and nuances in the Rights of Nature movement

49:56 – Zoe Lujic, Earth Thrive – current Rights of Nature initiatives in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin

01:09:00 – Questions and Answers

Speaker Information:

Natalia Greene, Ecuadorian, studied her Bachelor of Arts at Hampshire College, Massachusetts. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from FLACSO-Ecuador and a Master’s degree in Climate Change from UASB-EC.

She was President and is now Vice President of the Ecuadorian Coordinator of Organizations for the Defense of Nature and the Environment (CEDENMA), member of the Executive Committee of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, coordinator of the Alliance’s global team and Secretary of the International Tribunals for the Rights of Nature. Consultant of the Sacred Headwaters Initiative and promoter of the collective, Frente al Ambiente.

Eduardo Salazar Ortuño is an environmental lawyer and consultant with over 20 years experience. As founder of Eco Justicia law firm in Spain, he has collaborated with various global environmental entities including ELaw, IUCN and Greenpeace and is a faculty member of the Chair of Human Rights and Rights of Nature of the University of Murcia (Cátedra de Derechos Humanos y Derechos de la Naturaleza de la Universidad de Murcia).

He is also a key member of the Promoting Commission of the People’s Legislative Initiative, which campaigned successfully for the recognition of the fundamental rights and legal personhood of the highly polluted Mar Menor lagoon, near Murcia in Spain.

Grant Wilson is Executive Director of Earth Law Center in the USA and a leading expert on the Rights of Nature, ecocentric law, water law, international environmental law, and human environmental rights. For the last decade, he has defended the rights and interests of Nature all over the world, including by writing new Rights of Nature laws and winning decisive courtroom victories for rivers and other ecosystems.

Grant earned a degree in Environmental Policy from Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University, and a J.D. with a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Zoe Lujic is a deep environmentalist and rights of Nature advocate. She holds an MSc in Environmental Studies and is the founder and organising director of the Earth Thrive organisation.

Earth Thrive works on establishing rights of Nature in Europe, on the prevention of ecocides in Zoe’s native Balkans and on the introduction and establishment of an international Law of Ecocide.

Webinar Moderator:

Lisa Mead is a lawyer, educator and advocate for Rights of Nature and for the development of ecological law and governance. She runs the Earth Law Alliance (earthlawyers.org) and is a founding Steering Committee member of the Ecological Law & Governance Association. In 2018 she acted as Lead Counsel for Nature’s Rights at the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights, Fracking and Climate Change. She was an expert contributor to the UN’s 2016 Harmony with Nature Dialogue on Earth Jurisprudence and has advocated for ocean rights at the International Rights of Nature Tribunal in Paris in December 2015. Lisa has taught Applied Sustainability on Findhorn College’s former Human Challenge of Sustainability undergraduate semester program and for 3 years facilitated the Economic Design module of Findhorn College’s Ecovillage Design Education program.