The Rights of Nature vs. Human Rights?

University of Minnesota

Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs

April 11, 2024

8:30 am - 12:30 pm CDT

CDER’s Director of our Tribal Rights of Nature Program, Frank Bibeau, is joining a panel discussion - hosted by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota - with leading scholars, lawyers, and activists on the rights of nature in the Americas.

The discussion will include a focus on how the rights of nature have advanced not just the protection of the environment, but also Indigenous and Afrodescendant rights in Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States.

This event will be in English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation.

Register to Attend

Can’t Attend In Person? Check Out the Livestream for the event

2024 Public and Allied Health Symposium

From Crisis to Recovery: Health Challenges and Community Rights
in East Palestine, OH

Hosted by Bowling Green State University and the College of Health and Human Services

April 4, 2024

11:00am-2:00pm EST

Bowen-Thompson Student Union, Lenhart Grand Ballroom

CDER’s Senior Legal Counsel, Thomas Linzey is presenting as a keynote speaker at the Symposium.

He is widely recognized as the founder of the contemporary community rights movement which has resulted in the adoption of several hundred laws across the U.S. and world that protect the environment and public health. He will join public health experts Dr. Wes Vins, Laura Fauss, and Dr. Getchen Nickell, at the event.

The Symposium will be offered free of charge and will be offered in person and live stream. Lunch is free for registered in-person attendees, with registration required by March 15, 2024.

To register for this event and for more information, please visit here.

March 12, 2024: 6:00PM to 7:00PM

CDER’s Senior Legal Counsel Thomas Linzey will be joining Karenna Gore of the Center for Earth Ethics, along with Steven “Owl” Smith of the Ramapo Munsee Nation to discuss the movement for the Rights of Nature.

This webinar will give an overview of the field, situate it in the context of Riverkeeper’s work, and give up-to-date information about jurisprudence and litigation on the national and international level.

This webinar will be available via Zoom, and is free. To register for this event, please visit here.

Los Derechos de la Naturaleza en la Resevera Marina de Galápagos

The event is organized by CDER with Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Location: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador

1 PM Ecuador (GMT-5)/1PM Eastern - En Espanol

Livestream available here

We invite you to attend this in-person conference on December 7th, where the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) attorney, Hugo Echeverria, will be presenting on a panel on the protection of marine life in the Galapagos, which will also include renowned USFQ Professors Alex Hearn and Juan Manuel Guayasamín, both experts on Galapagos issues as well as on protected species.

This conference is an opportunity to learn about the challenges the Galapagos Marine Reserve faces regarding the protection of marine life. This is the first event organized by the CDER focusing on the “blue” perspective of the rights of nature, a topic that is receiving growing attention by the rights of nature movement worldwide.

In Ecuador, the Constitution secured the rights of nature - Pacha Mama - in 2008. 

A livestream option is also available here.

Los Derechos Constitucionales de la Naturaleza en el Ecuador: Casos Pendientes en la Corte Constitucional

Law School of Universidad de las Américas UDLA

November 22nd, 2023

5:00 PM Eastern Time, 5:00 PM Ecuador (GMT-5) Local Time

You are invited to join us in-person or online, for this seminar titled Los Derechos Constitucionales de la Naturaleza en el Ecuador: Casos Pendientes en la Corte Constitucional. This event will be en Espanol.

This event will take place in Quito at the Law School of Universidad de las Américas UDLA, in Auditorio 1 y 2 Campus Granados.

The seminar is organized by the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) with the Law School of Universidad de las Américas UDLA. Here is the list of speakers:

• CDER’s External Attorney, Hugo Echeverria

• Ecuador Constitutional Court Judge, Alejandra Cárdenas, who is also a Professor at UDLA Law School

• Environmental Law Professor Viviana Morales

Ecuador is the first country to recognize constitutional rights to nature, in 2008. Ecuador’s Constitutional Court - the top Court of the country - has issued the first jurisprudence endowing these new rights with essential content. 

Today there are multiple rights of nature cases pending before the Constitutional Court. The goal of the seminar is the analysis of these cases, which include the river Dulcepamba, the river Piatúa, and the Forest of the Cuenca Alta Nangaritza cases, on hydropower and mining issues.

The event will continue the Constitutional Law discussion on the scope and content of these new rights that CDER has been hosting through a series of webinars beginning in 2022. In 2022, we organized the first one with Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales. In March 2023, we organized the second one with Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja; in May, the third one with Universidad de Guayaquil; and in September 2023, the fourth one with Pontificia Universidad Católica.

This event is free, and will be broadcast via UDLA's social media as well, with all social platforms located on the official program website.

Bioneers Learning-The Rights of Nature:

Drafting, Adopting, and Enforcing Rights of Nature Laws in Cities, Towns, and Counties Workshop

Four-Week Course with Thomas Linzey & Mari Margil

October 19th - November 9, 2023

2:00 PM - 3:30 PM Eastern

Coming this October, the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) is excited to be presenting a four-week course as part of the new Bioneers Learning program. Launched this year by our partner organization Bioneers, Bioneers Learning courses will focus on a range of environmental, social justice, and other topics, equipping engaged citizens and professionals with the knowledge, tools, resources, and networks to initiate or deepen your engagement, leading to real change in your life and community.

CDER’s Mari Margil and Thomas Linzey will lead an exciting four-week course designed to enrich and educate on the breadth of work being done in the Rights of Nature movement. "The Rights of Nature: Drafting, Adopting, and Enforcing Rights of Nature Laws in Cities, Towns, and Counties" will provide attendees with a full background on the Rights of Nature movement in the United States and around the world, and prepare them to engage in their own communities to develop, adopt, and enforce local Rights of Nature laws.

The course will also include an overview of how indigenous communities are adopting and enforcing Rights of Nature laws and policies. The course will also feature guest presenters, including key organizers in Ecuador and tribal attorneys.

What you will learn:

• The Indigenous origins of the Rights of Nature and its evolution in Western legal theory

• How to support the Rights of Nature in your community and elsewhere

• An in-depth understanding of Rights of Nature laws and court decisions around the world, including with tribal and first nations, Ecuador, Bolivia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Canada, Spain, and elsewhere

• Strategies for advancing Rights of Nature laws in your communities

Visit here to learn more information about this educational opportunity. Register here.

FORUM 2023 Earth Democracy and the Rights of Nature

Hosted by the Temple of Understanding

Thursday 12 October, 2023
10am – 12:30pm ET /Online Event

The Temple of Understanding is hosting FORUM 2023 on Earth Democracy and the Rights of Nature.

CDER Executive Director Mari Margil and CDER Nepal Associate Shrawan Sharma will present on the rights of nature in the Himalayas and around the world.

This web conference will also feature:

• Jerome Foster II, White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Member

• Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe

• His Holiness Kyabgon Gongma Trichen Rinpoche (The Sakya Trichen)

• Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and President of Navdanya International

• Bill McKibben, Contributing writer to The New Yorker, Founder of Third Act

As well, other members of the Religious Naturalism Movement and Indigenous leaders will be featured.

Registration is free for this online event. Register HERE.

Rights of Nature: cases pending before Ecuador’s Constitutional Court/Derechos de la Naturaleza: casos pendientes ante la Corte Constitucional del Ecuador

Organized and hosted by the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights and Universidad de Guayaquil Faculty of Law

Wednesday, May 10, 2023 In Spanish, En Espanol

8:00 PM Eastern Time/7:00 PM Quito Time

Ecuador is the first country to recognize constitutional rights of nature, in 2008.

Between 2019 and 2022, the Constitutional Court -the top Court of the country- issued the first jurisprudence endowing these new rights with essential content: A total of six verdicts specifically addressing the rights of nature.

A number of cases are now pending at the Court. The goal of the Webinar is the analysis of these cases, from a Constitutional Law focus. These cases include the Río Dulcepamba, the Río Piatúa, and the case on Cuenca Alta del Río Nangaritza (addressing mining and hydropower plants). The event's purpose is to continue the legal discussion on the scope and content of these new rights.

The event is organized by CDER and Universidad de Guayaquil Faculty of Law. CDER’s Ecuador attorney, Hugo Echeverria, will join the panel with Universidad de Guayaquil Constitutional Law Professors Sandra Tapia and Roberto Gomez. The event will be moderated by the Dean of the Law School, Professor Leonel Fuentes. Italy's Centro di Ricerca EuroAmericano Sulle Politiche Costituzionali will also join us.

It is the third Webinar of its kind: Last year, CDER organized the first event with the Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales. In March 2023, we organized a second webinar with Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja.

Watch the webinar live! The event will be live broadcast the social media of Universidad de Guayaquil's Law School. It will be made available on their Facebook, YouTube, and via Zoom, at 847 3347 6866.

The Society of Environmental Journalists Conference, Panel: “Reporting on the Rights of Nature Movement”

Located on the campus of Boise State University

Saturday, April 22nd, 2023

10:45 AM MT (Mountain Time)

The Society of Environmental Journalists, the only “North American membership association of professional journalists dedicated to more and better coverage of environmental-related issues,” has invited Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, to speak about the rights of nature at their annual conference, to be held from April 19-23 on the campus of Boise State University.

Linzey will speak on a panel entitled “Reporting on the Rights of Nature Movement” facilitated by Katie Surma of Inside Climate News, along with Elliott Moffett, a tribal advocate for the Nez Perce Tribe, and . The panel will be held at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 22nd.

Other speakers at the conference include author David Quammen, U.S. Representative Mike Simpson, and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Online Registration closes on April 14th, and all information can be found HERE.

Should the Moon have legal rights?

Join us for this important discussion!

Please note the date and time: Tuesday, April 11 at 8 PM (New York, Eastern Time) / Wednesday, April 12 at 10 AM AEST (Brisbane, Australia Time)

Corporations and governments around the world are making plans to return to the Moon, and not just to visit our celestial neighbor, but to mine its minerals, extract its water, and create permanent settlements for further space exploration.

Do human beings have a right to extract resources from the Moon? What will the impacts be? Who's making these decisions? And what are the alternatives?

Join us as we discuss what's planned for the Moon, the risks and threats posed to the Moon and to Earth, and what type of governance strategies might be put in place to protect the Moon from harm, including recognizing the moon as a legal entity.

** This event is being held on 'Yuri's night' which is a global acknowledgment of the first person to go into space. For more information about Yuri's night visit: https://yurisnight.net/

This event is free and virtual. REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK HERE

MODERATOR & EVENT HOST

Dr. Michelle Maloney, National Convenor, Australian Earth Laws Alliance

SPEAKERS

ALICE GORMAN

Dr. Alice Gorman is an internationally recognized leader in the field of space archaeology. Her research on space exploration has been featured in National Geographic, New Scientist, and Archaeology magazine. She is a faculty member of the International Space University's Southern Hemisphere Space Program in Adelaide. Her book Dr Space Junk vs the Universe: Archaeology and the Future (NewSouth Publishing, MIT Press, 2019) won the NIB Award People's Choice and the John Mulvaney Book Award, as well as being shortlisted for the NSW and Queensland Premier's Awards and the Adelaide Festival Awards. She has worked extensively in Indigenous heritage management, providing advice for mining industry, urban development, government departments, local councils and Native Title groups in NSW, WA, SA and Queensland. She is also a specialist in stone tool analysis, and the Aboriginal use of bottle glass after European settlement. Alice is a member of the Advisory Council of the Space Industry Association of Australia, a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and President of the Anthropological Society of South Australia. She tweets as @drspacejunk.

CASSANDRA STEER

Dr. Cassandra Steer is Deputy Director of the Australian National University Institute for Space (InSpace), with a focus on Mission Specialists. Globally recognised for her expertise in space governance, space law, and space security, she has published widely on these topics, including the application of the law of armed conflict and use of force in outer space. She has consulted to the Australian, Canadian and U.S Departments of Defence, the Australian Space Agency and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on these issues. She has taught space law and space security at McGill university, the ANU College of Law, the National Security College and the Australian Defence College. Dr Steer is co-founder of the Australian Centre for Space Governance (ACGS), which brings together experts in space law, space policy, space history, space ethics, space security, space property, and political and social sciences applied to space, from seven different universities. She has represented the ACSG at the UN, and brokered research, education and policy contracts on behalf of the ACSG with the ACT Government, the Australian Space Agency, the Department of Defence, DFAT, Geoscience Australia, and some Australian law firms.

EYTAN TEPPER

Dr. Eytan Tepper is a Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of the Space Governance Lab at Indiana University Bloomington, where he is affiliated with both the Maurer School of Law the Ostrom Workshop and teaches Space Governance and Space-Cybersecurity. Dr. Tepper earned his doctorate from the McGill University Institute of Air and Space Law and subsequently pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the New York University (NYU) School of Law. His research focus is space law and governance, and he leads several projects for which he obtained external funding from grant agencies in Canada and the US: “Space – Cyber Governance”, “Corporate Sovereigns: The Governance of Space Exploration Corporations”, and the Carnegie-funded project: “Polycentric Multilateralism: Reimagining the Roles of International Institutions in Space Governance and Beyond”. He has published in journals like the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, Journal of Space Law, Space Policy, and New Space and has two book contracts with Cambridge and Springer. Prior to his return to academe, he was a practicing lawyer with a career spanning the public and private sectors, representing government ministries and Fortune 500 companies.   

MARI MARGIL

Mari Margil is one of the leading global voices for the recognition of legally enforceable rights of ecosystems and nature. She serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER). In 2008, she served as a consultant to Ecuador’s national Constituent Assembly, helping to draft the world’s first rights of nature constitutional provisions.   She is co-author of The Bottom Line or Public Health (Oxford University Press, 2010) and Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence (Wakefield Press, 2011).

Register today! This event is entirely free and virtual. REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK HERE

Also, check out the recent article on this topic by Dr. Michelle Maloney, Dr. Alice Gorman, and Mari Margil: Imposing Lunar Time Zones - A Giant Leap Toward Colonizing the Moon - A Declaration for the Rights of the Moon

Being with Plants: Expanding Fields of Compassion - On-line Event

Tuesday, March 21, 5 PM Eastern/2 PM Pacific

Join us for this exciting on-line event hosted by Prairiewoods on respecting and protecting the plant world.

For many of us, it is hard to turn compassion into action simply because we don’t know where to start. Plants are more than something to harvest food or fibers from. We value their beauty and want to preserve plant communities, but how do we take that level of respect and turn it into impactful action?

Join us as we explore this question with leaders who work to remind us of the sacredness of plants, build awareness about plants, be present with plants, and protect plants.

This is a two-hour virtual program via Zoom facilitated by August Stolba of Prairiewoods with a keynote address by Paul Moss, founder of The Plant Initiative.

It will feature a panel discussion with Blackfoot Inipi Water Pourer Kerry Batteau, Trees Forever Founder Shannon Ramsay, Nature and Forest Therapy Guide Emelia Sautter, and our own Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) Executive Director Mari Margil.

The cost is $20 for this Zoom keynote and panel discussion. Registration is required and available here.

Rights of Nature and Indigenous Activism

Monday, Mar 20, 2023

4:30 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time)/7:30 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time)

In 2018, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe recognized the rights of manoomin (wild rice), the first law to recognize the legal rights of a plant species. In 2021, manoomin and the White Earth Band sued the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in White Earth Tribal Court to enforce the rights of wild rice, the first rights of nature enforcement case to be brought in a tribal court. 

White Earth tribal attorney Frank Bibeau and Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, will be presenting.

Please register for this free virtual event HERE.

The Rights of Nature, Cases Pending Before the Ecuador Constitutional Court - Los Derechos de la Naturaleza, Casos Pendientes de decision en la Corte Constitucional del Ecuador

Thursday, March 9, from 11:00am to 1pm Eastern Time/Ecuador Time (UTC-5). The event will be in Spanish.

This webinar will be hosted by CDER and the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) in Ecuador. 

Hugo Echeverría, CDER's Ecuador attorney, will be joined by Pedro Puertas and Enrique Luzuriaga, who both serve as UTPL Professors on Constitutional Law. They will address the following: a) The constitutional rights of nature; b) Ecuadorian jurisprudence on the rights of nature; and c) Pending cases on rights of nature at the Constitutional Court.

All are welcome.  Please register at this link to attend this virtual event: https://acortar.link/NghYHg.

Friday, March 3rd, 2023

9:30 pm EST (Eastern Standard Time)

An interview with Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel of CDER will air on Free Speech TV on Friday, March 3rd, at 9:30 pm Eastern Time. This interview focuses on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The concept of the rights of nature will be an important framing point for how legal systems can work to prevent such tragedies, and protect human life, and the ecosystems of their communities. This interview can be located on the Mobilized News TV show here.