This outline relates to developments in Earth Law with a particular emphasis on what is commonly referred to as the Rights of Nature movement, which we interpret to mean the recognition of Nature’s fundamental and inherent rights in the Western legal system. IndigenousNations have their own legal histories that trace the origins of laws, relationships, and responsibilities to the natural world and all beings. These ancient legal orders date to time immemorial. While no timeline can be exhaustive in its coverage, it aims to provide a broad overview to empower communities to continue the work of expanding these legal mechanisms.

These are only select advancements towards Earth law. Many more can be found on the U.N. Harmony with Nature page and on other online resources.

     1972:

-        Christopher Stone’s Should Trees Have Standing? envisions legal standing for Nature.

-        Justice Douglas’s dissent in Sierra Club v. Morton supports conferring standing to “environmental objects” so they can sue their own preservation.

1989:

-        Roderick Frazier Nash discusses the Rights of Nature in The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics.

1999:

-         Thomas Berry introduces the concept of “Earth jurisprudence” in The Great Work.

2001:

-        Indigenous Declaration on Water introduced at the 12th annual Indigenous Environmental Network Protecting Mother Earth Conference.

-        Airlie conference convenes to develop Earth Jurisprudence.

2002:

-        Cormac Cullinan’s Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice published.

2004:

-         “Wild Law conferences” hosted in the UK to explore Earth Jurisprudence.

2006:

-        Center for Earth Jurisprudence established.

2007: 

-        The World Future Council launches initiative on crimes against future generations.

-        Hungary appoints Parliamentary Commissioner for future generations to uphold public right to a healthy environment. 

-        Tamaqua Borough, PA, enacts ordinance granting “natural communities and ecosystems… inalienable and fundamental rights to exist and flourish.”

2008

-        Constitution of Ecuador adopted to include rights of nature to “right to exist, persist, maintain itself and regenerate its own vital cycles, structure, functions and its evolutionary processes.”

-        Earth Law Center established.

2009

-        The United Nations declared April 22 as “International Mother Earth Day.”

-        Earth Jurisprudence classes begin at Schumacher College.

2010

-        Bolivia passes Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, Law 071.

-        Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature founded.

-        World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth held in Bolivia.

-        Pittsburgh, PA ,adopts “Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance” recognizing the rights of natural communities and ecosystems.

2011

-        First Interactive Dialogue of the General Assembly on Harmony with Nature, which includes a discussion of the Universal Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth.

-        First successful case implementing Ecuador Constitution on the Rights of the Vilcabamba River.

-        Ecocide Trial (mock trial) held at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

-        Peter Burdon’s Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence published.

2012

-        Bolivia passes the Law of Mother Earth and Integral Development for Living Well (Law 300).

-        Whanganui River Agreement (“Tutohu Whakatupua”) recognizes the independent legal standing of the Whanganui River.

-        Earth Law course offered at Vermont Law School, USA.

-        IUCN incorporates the Rights of Nature as an organizational focal point in IUCN's Decision-making in Resolution WCC-2012-Res-100 (Jeju, Korea).

-        The Future We Want (Rio de Janeiro, June 2012) cites Nature's Rights in ¶ 39.

-        Final Declaration of the People's Summit (Rio de Janeiro) calls for U.N. adoption of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.

-        Earth Law Alliance and Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA) founded.

2013

-        Earth Law Center co-drafts Santa Monica’s Sustainability Bill of Rights Ordinance.

-        Te Uewera Act gives the Te Urewera National Park in New Zealand the same rights as a legal person.

-        Federal District of Mexico’s Environmental Law for the Protection of the Earth recognizes the Earth’s basic rights.

-        Resolution on the Rights of Nature (Res-#6) adopted at the 10th World Wilderness Congress (Salamanca, Spain, October 2013).

-        Linda Sheehan (Earth Law Center) presents “‘Earth Jujitsu’ - Escaping the Climate Chokehold by Adapting to Nature’s Rights” at TEDxMarin.

-        Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other speakers advocate for the Rights of Nature at the Interactive Dialogue of the General Assembly on Harmony with Nature.

2014

-        The Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) is signed, establishing personhood for the Whanganui River and co-governance for the Whanganui Iwi (New Zealand).

-        The world’s first Tribunal on the Rights of Nature and Mother Earth is held in Quito, Ecuador.

-        The second International Rights of Nature Tribunal is held concurrently with UNFCCC COP 20 in Lima, Peru.

-        Regional tribunals are held on the Chevron Refinery (Oakland, CA), the Yasuni-ITT (Ecuador), and the Great Barrier Reef (Australia).

-        The Constitution of the state of Guerrero in Mexico recognizes the Rights of Nature in Article 2.

-        The Group of 77 adopts the Declaration of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, "Towards a New World Order to Live Well."

-        Earth Law Center releases  “Fighting for Our Shared Future: Protecting Both Human Rights and Nature's Rights” on “co-violations” of rights.

-        Grant Township, PA passes the  Community Bill of Rights Ordinance, establishing rights to clean air and water and the rights of Nature.

-        Proposal to recognize the Rights of Nature introduced in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

-        Rights of Nature movement listed as #5 in the “top 10 grassroots movements taking on the world” by Shift Magazine.

2016

-        Judge in Argentina rules that a chimpanzee has legal rights and should be released from the zoo in which it was caged.

-        “Expert Report on Earth Jurisprudence” summarizes input from 120 experts at the U.N. Harmony with Nature Dialogue.

-        Mumta Ito presents “Enshrining Rights of Nature in Law” at TEDx Findhorn.

-        Craig Kauffman and Pamela Martin publish “Testing Ecuador’s Rights of Nature: Why Some Lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail.”

-        Second Bay Area Rights of Nature Tribunal held, asking, What Would the Delta Say?

-        United Kingdom Green Party formally adopts Rights of Nature.

-        First International Forum of Rights of Mother Earth.

-        IUCN Academy of Environmental Law adopts “Oslo Manifesto” for an Ecological Law and Governance Association (ELGA).

-        Final Declaration of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law drafted in Rio includes “Principle 1: Responsibility to Protect Nature.”

-        IUCN adopts Rights of Nature into the 2017-2020 Work Programme.

2017

-        The Constitutional Court of Colombia recognizes the Atrato River as a subject of rights, with the rights of protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration.

-        The Whanganui River earns the legal status of a person through the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017.

-        India’s High Court of Uttarakhand rules that the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers, the Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers, and other ecosystems are legal persons with rights (later stayed by the Supreme Court)

-        The Inter-American Court of Human Rights releases an Advisory Opinion OC-23/17) finding that the  “[t]he right of a healthy environment is an autonomous right . . . protect[ing] the components of the environment, such as forests, rivers, seas and others, as legal interests in themselves…. "

-        Mexico City includes Rights of Nature in its new Constitution.

-        The Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, USA, recognized the Rights of Nature by statute.

-        The Municipality of Bonito, Brazil, enacts a law which recognizes the right of nature to “exist, thrive, and evolve.”

-        Colorado River v. State of Colorado is filed in U.S. federal court seeking to enforce the rights of the Colorado River (later withdrawn).

-        The Fourth International Rights of Nature Tribunal is held in Bonn-Germany, presided by Tom Goldtooth (Turtle Nation - EUA).

-        Concept of "Ocean Rights" presented in front of the UN General Assembly at the first UN Ocean Conference.

2018

-        The Colombian Supreme Court recognizes the Colombian Amazon as a “subject of rights.”

-        The Administrative Court of Boyacá in Colombia recognizes the Páramo in Pisba, a high Andean ecosystem facing significant mining, as a “subject of rights.”

-        Nonhuman Rights Project case seeking habeas corpus for a chimpanzee in New York makes progress towards nonhuman rights, with the NY Court of Appeals finding “While it may be arguable that a chimpanzee is not a ‘person,’ there is no doubt that it is not merely a thing.”

-        The Municipality of Paudalho, Brazil, enacts a rights of nature law.

-        The White Earth Band of the Chippewa Nation adopt the “Rights of the Manoomin” law, securing legal rights for a traditional staple crop of the Anishinaabe people.

-        Santa Monica applies the rights of local aquifers to flourish through an ordinance banning new, private water wells and expansion of existing wells until the City develops an adequate groundwater management plan.

2019

-        The High Court Division (HCD) of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh recognizes legal rights of the river Turag and then extends these rights to all rivers in a sweeping ruling.

-        The State of Colima, Mexico approves an amendment to the state constitution recognizing the Rights of Nature.

-        Uganda recognizes nature as having “the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution” in the National Environmental Act.

-        The Lake Erie Bill of Rights is passed by Toledo, Ohio, recognizing the rights of Lake Erie. (Later challenged in court; outcome pending.)

-        The Yurok Tribe passes a resolution recognizing the rights of the Klamath River and allows cases to be brought to the tribal court on behalf of the river.

-        Michelle Bender’s Ocean Rights: A Roadmap to a Liveable Future is published.

-        The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approves a pronouncement deeming that “forests are living entities” with commensurate human duties to protect and restore them.

-        The Superior Court of Medellín recognizes the Cauca River, including its basin and tributaries, as a subject of legal rights.

-        The Plata River in Colombia is recognized as a “subject of rights.”

-        The First Criminal Court in Neiva-Huila, Colombia, recognizes the Magdalena River, its basin, and tributaries as possessing rights to “protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration.”

-        The Regional Court of the Province of Tolima, Colombia, recognizes the rights of the Coello, Combeima, and Cocora Rivers.

-        The National Lawyers Guild adds “Rights of Nature” to the organization’s constitution.

-        The Municipality of Florianópolis in Brazil adopts Organic Law 133 recognizing the rights of nature.

-        District judge in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, ruled in favor of protecting the Atoyac and Salado Rivers based on human environmental rights and rights of future generations.

-        A bill to recognize Rights of Nature is introduced into the Congress of the Philippines.

-        A Rights of Nature and Future Generations Bill is introduced into the Parliament of Western Australian.

-        The Dutch municipality of Nordeast-Fryslan proposed grants special rights to the Wadden Sea and creates an independent governance authority for ecosystem protection.

2020

-        Earth Law Center and partners publish a law school coursebook, Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law—A Guide for Practitioners (2020, Wolters Kluwer).

-        The Municipality of Curridabat, Costa Rica, affords citizenship to pollinators, trees and native plants.

-        The Nez Perce Tribe General Council passed a resolution recognizing rights of the Snake River, including the right to exist, flourish, evolve, flow, regenerate, and be restored. It envisions a legal guardianship body to enforce those rights.

-        The Ecuadorian Constitutional Court heard arguments in a case to protect the Los Cedros Protected Forest from mining.

-        Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers launched online with signatures from across the globe.

-        Rights of Rivers report by International Rivers, Earth Law Center, and the Vance Center documents dramatic rise in rights of rivers cases globally.

-        The Spanish municipality of Los Alcázares approves an initiative to recognize the rights of the Mar Menor lagoon.

-        Advocates introduce legislation to establish the legal rights of the River Ethiope in Nigeria.

-        The Menominee Indian Tribe assert that the Menominee River has inherent rights to exist and flourish.

-        Los Nevados National Natural Park in Colombia is declared a special subject of rights for its protection, recovery, and conservation.

-        Judges qualified mismanagement of fires in Chiquitania by the Plurinational State of Bolivia as ecocide.

-        Kelsey Leonard gives TED Talk on “Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans.”

-        The Alliance for the Sacred Sites of Earth Gaia released the Declaration for the Protection of Sacred Natural Sites.

-        The Tŝilhqot’in Nation (Canada) enacts a “ʔEsdilagh Sturgeon River Law” recognizing that “[p]eople, animals, fish, plants, the nen [land], and the tu [water] have rights in the decisions about their care and use that must be considered and respected.”

-        Voters in Orange County, Florida, pass an ordinance establishing the legal rights of the Wekiva and Econlockhatchee Rivers.

-        The Democratic Party’s Climate Council (USA) makes the recommendation to “Establish a commission…to explore incorporating Rights of Nature principles into U.S. law.”

2021

-        Deputies in Oaxaca introduce a state constitutional amendment that would recognize the Rights of Nature and establish a legal guardianship body to enforce those rights.

-        Stop Ecocide convenes an expert drafting panel to an create exact legal definition of “ecocide” as a recognized crime.

-        Rights of the Magpie River/Muteshekau Shipu recognized by the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and the Minganie Regional County Municipality (RCM) (with support from OIDN and others).

WHAT’S NEXT: OUR DREAM FOR THE FUTURE

·        All ecosystems are recognized as having fundamental rights. Every river, forest, ocean, and other natural entity has a voice in the law and government.

·        The rights of animals are respected under the law.

·        Destroying the environment is neither legal nor profitable; it is a crime and makes poor economic sense.

·        Legal guardians are appointed to represent the interests of the natural world throughout the world, with equitable representation.

·        The rights and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples are recognized and enforced.

·        Ecocentric economic systems that prioritize the well-being of the entire planet become the norm rather than the status quo of exploitative economic paradigms.

·        Humans and the rest of nature thrive together on a health planet.