PANAMA RECOGNIZES RIGHTS OF NATURE!

In 2020, local partner Callie Veelenturf of The Leatherback Project proposed a Rights of Nature law to the first lady of Panama. In 2021, ELC was invited to provide input and expertise to the draft law, of which all were accepted. Law 287 successfully passed all three debates and was signed by the President February 24th, 2022. Panama follows a short list of countries to have recognized the Rights of Nature at the national level (after Ecuador, Bolivia and Uganda (where designated)). Read our press release and an article featuring this campaign in EcoWatch!

We believe this is one of the most comprehensive Rights of Nature laws out there! By not only recognizing that Nature has rights, but providing detail on what those rights are and the principles to guide governance.

Next Steps: Advancing Ocean Rights

Panama is one of the 25 most megadiverse countries globally, playing a pivotal role in preserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change. Panama, along with Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica, is a part of a regional initiative to conserve the Eastern Tropical Corridor (CMAR), a migratory pathway necessary to protect biodiversity of Sea Turtles, Sharks and other keystone species, and maintaining rich genetic diversity that sustains local fisheries and sustenance. 

The approval of the National law opens the doors for holistic, joint, rights-based governance of forests, rivers, the Ocean, and other ecosystems! ELC and The Leatherback Project will continue our work in Panama and expand our efforts to facilitate regional collaboration in Rights of Nature conservation and advancing Ocean Rights, seeking to create stronger protections for marine life by transforming the human-ocean relationship.

The Rights of Nature law will enter into force in February 2023. We look forward to continued collaborations to see the implementation of the law in practice.

Additionally, a new sea turtle conservation law is now in the third debate. ELC provided comments to the law in 2021 and will provide updates as we can, but as of now, language to recognize sea turtles as a subject of rights is included!

These advances have inspired our developing research analysis on the applications of Rights of Nature to protecting a specific threatened and ecologically critical marine species in Panama: sharks! As a leader in the Rights of Nature movement, Panama also proposes that the global community better protect sharks in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). ELC will provide updates as this campaign progresses.

For more information contact mbender@earthlaw.org.

Gallery Photos: Banner by Tourism Panama, #2 National Assembly Legal Debate, Photo by National Assembly of Panama; #3,4 Photos by Eduardo Estrada