News Release: Rights of Nature Proposed for National Democratic Party Platform

Contact
Thomas Linzey
Senior Counsel
tal@pa.net
717-729-2271

The Environment and Climate Crisis Council of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has recommended including the Rights of Nature in the 2020 Democratic Party Platform.

This month, the Council forwarded recommendations for policies to be included in the platform.  The new platform will be adopted at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

The Council recommendations propose that the United States:

Establish a commission, similar to the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, to explore incorporating Rights of Nature principles into U.S. law.

The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) consulted with a member of the Environment & Climate Crisis Council on incorporating the Rights of Nature in the platform.  

CDER Senior Counsel Thomas Linzey, who has worked with the first places in the world to establish Rights of Nature laws, explained, “As we face overlapping environmental crises, it’s time for a fundamental shift in how we govern ourselves toward the natural world.  This means no longer treating nature as an unlimited resource existing for human use and exploitation.”

He added, “This represents a big step forward for driving necessary change in the United States. Rights of nature laws, for the first time, secure the highest legal protections for nature, including rights to exist, regenerate, and restoration.” 

The Democratic Party first referred to the Rights of Nature in its 2016 platform, which stated: We are committed to principles of environmental justice in Indian Country and we recognize that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain, and regenerate its vital cycles.

In recognizing the need for legally enforceable Rights of Nature to be integrated into the U.S. legal system, the Democratic Party joins political parties elsewhere that have also called for such recognition.

CDER’s Mari Margil assisted members of the Green Party of England and Wales to develop a Rights of Nature policy plank, which was adopted in 2016.  The Green Party of Scotland has taken similar steps.  As well, last fall, the Florida Democratic Party voted to include the Rights of Nature in the state party platform.

Ecuador enacted the first national constitutional rights of nature framework in its 2008 Constitution.  Today, national laws are in place in Bolivia, Uganda, and New Zealand.  Local Rights of Nature laws have been enacted in the United States and Brazil.  Tribal nations, including the Menominee, Yurok, and Ponca have enacted rights of nature tribal laws and resolutions. And, courts in India, Colombia, and Bangladesh have recognized rights of rivers and other ecosystems.  

The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights works with civil society, indigenous peoples, and governments to advance the Rights of Nature around the world, including with tribal nations, the Philippines, Australia, Ecuador, Nepal, India, Sweden, Canada, the United States, and other countries.

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