Press Release: Ojai, CA, Passes Rights of Nature Law, Recognizing the Legal Rights of Waterbodies and Mountains
Ojai, California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 2024
CONTACT:
Leslie Rule, Ojai City Councilor, Leslie.Rule@ojai.ca.gov
Thomas Linzey, Esq., Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, tal@pa.net
OJAI, CA: Tonight, the Ojai City Council adopted a “rights of nature” law, recognizing the rights of water bodies and other ecosystems, as well as flora and fauna, to “exist, flourish, and regenerate.”
In addition, the local law recognizes the rights of residents to clean water and soils which “are essential to the health, wellbeing, and survival of all living beings.”
As the new law explains, current state and federal laws are “inadequate” to address the environmental crises that we face today, including the acceleration of species extinction and climate change. These current environmental laws are based on the principle that the natural world is the “property” of humans, and they legalize the use and harm of that property (i.e., nature).
The damage to the health and wellbeing of people and nature, including water bodies and soil ecosystems, from excessive phosphorous and other pollution – damage that is occurring legally under existing environmental laws – was a key concern that the Ojai rights of nature law addresses.
The new law creates a legally enforceable set of rights – for people and nature – to protect against such harm, while prohibiting certain uses of phosphorus and banning water pollution. The law also provides that legal actions can be filed by any Ojai resident in the name of a waterbody or other ecosystem protected by the law.
Ojai City Councilor, Leslie Rule, who introduced the law, stated, “With the many environmental crises we face, we recognize in Ojai that harm done to nature is harm done to ourselves. It is time for a fundamental shift, to protect people and nature together, through the rights of nature.”
The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) assisted the Ojai City Council through this process. Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel at CDER, stated, “We congratulate Ojai on advancing the rights of nature, to protect people and nature. The rights of nature is reshaping humankind’s relationship with the natural world, from a relationship based on the exploitation of nature, to one based on the protection of nature.”
Background on the Rights of Nature
Since 2006, local communities, states, countries, and Tribal and First Nations have established laws and policies, and issued court decisions, which recognize and protect the rights of nature.
This includes national laws in Ecuador (in the 2008 Constitution), Bolivia, Panama, Spain, Uganda, and New Zealand, as well as local laws in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. Tribal nations, including the Rappahannock Tribe, the White Earth Band of Chippewa, the Yurok, and the Menominee, have enacted rights of nature measures. As well, courts in Colombia, Bangladesh, Peru, and India have recognized the rights of rivers and other ecosystems.
These laws, policies, and court decisions, for the first time, recognize nature as a living entity with legal rights. Further, they institute mechanisms for nature itself, as well as people and governments, to enforce and defend these rights on behalf of and in the name of nature.
The founders of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) drafted the first rights of nature laws in the world, including local laws in the U.S., and consulted on Ecuador’s Constitution, the first in the world to enshrine the rights of nature within a national constitution. Click here for more information on the rights of nature, including laws, court rulings, a timeline, and enforcement efforts around the world.
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