Mother Earth Rights

The Ecuadorian Submission to the Rio+20 process proposes, among others, an Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature, and living well as an alternative to development. Some relevant extracts:

2. New and urgent issues

17. The Conference should encourage recognition of the rights of nature, that is to say, the right to full respect for its existence, maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structures, functions and evolutionary processes. States should be urged to take precautionary measures and restrict activities that could lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of ecosystems or permanent changes to natural cycles.

18. We hereby call for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature, as a response that would ensure that present and future generations can live well.

19. Ecuador proposes living well as an alternative to development, as a new paradigm to replace the prevailing model based on endless economic growth, which has led to overexploitation of natural resources and to poverty, inequality and exclusion of the majority of the population. Living well is a work in progress, borrowed from the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous peoples and nationalities, which involves living in harmony with oneself, nature and others to build democratic, inclusive, plurinational and multicultural States.

(…)

27. The green economy cannot be considered an alternative to sustainable development or a new model. Contemplating a “green economy” without modifying production and consumption patterns is a way of greening protectionism; the speculation that led to the crisis of the capitalist system; disregard of the rights of ancestral peoples; appropriation and privatization of environmental services; and technological dependence of developing countries.

Click here for the complete submission

Press Briefing of Plurinational State of Boliva,

Amb. Pablo Solón

Bonn, Germany, June 13, 2011

CLICK HERE to watch via UNFCCC Website

(Agencia Venezolana de Noticias 11/3/10) The countries belonging to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) will meet Wednesday in Bolivia to advocate for a common position on the defense of the rights of Mother Earth.

According to the Bolivian Minister of the Environment and Water, Maria Esther Udaeta, this is the purpose of a forum taking place in La Paz until Friday, Prensa Latina reported. Read more…

(South Centre) I. Introduction. On 19 December 2009, the 15th session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP15) adopted a decision that “takes note of the Copenhagen Accord of 18 December 2009.” This means that, in accordance with the practice of the United Nations, the COP was neutral and neither approved nor disapproved the Copenhagen Accord.1 The Copenhagen Accord therefore is not an official outcome of COP15 but rather is an external document whose existence is only “noted” by the COP. Read more…

Considering that climate change represents a real threat to the existence of humanity, of living beings and our Mother Earth as we know it today;
Noting the serious danger that exists to islands, coastal areas, glaciers in the Himalayas, the Andes and mountains of the world, poles of the Earth, warm regions like Africa, water sources, populations affected by increasing natural disasters, plants and animals, and ecosystems in general;

Making clear that those most affected by climate change will be the poorest in the world who will see their homes  and their sources of survival destroyed, and who will be forced to migrate and seek refuge; Read more…

(New York) The 21^st of December the General Assembly of the United Nations approved by consensus and in co-sponsorship with 61 countries the resolution “Harmony with Nature” that was proposed by Bolivia. This resolution incorporates the topic of “Harmony with Nature” in the agenda of the General Assembly of the United Nations and invites member states and regional organizations to consider the issue of promoting life in harmony with nature and transmit to the Secretary-General their views, experiences and proposals for him to present a report on the issue in the next session of the General Assembly. Read more…

(Meena Raman) During the final hours of the Copenhagen climate conference, after a decision to “take note” of the Copenhagen Accord, high drama and intense exchanges continued among Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as developed countries attempted to stretch the meaning of “taking note” into forming some kind of a plurilateral agreement among Parties who had agreed to the Accord. Read more…

(Polly Higgins, Trees Have Rights Too) So the climate negotiations are over. The end result was a 3 page document, now named the Copenhagen Accord (not a Treaty because it is non-binding, it states a few principles to “take note of”) which no country has signed up to in any event. In other words, it has no lawful authority or standing at all, it is a mere statement of vague intent. Arguably this is a crime against the planet (a sin of omission) and all those who live within, upon and on it. Read more…

(Brendan Mackey) The essential contribution of the Earth Charter is in promoting a global moral community based on shared values and principles for a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Because it is grounded so strongly in the ecological integrity concept, the Earth Charter ethic requires an unprecedented planetary scale of moral reflection. Integrity implies a wholeness that is nurturing and necessary for human well-being. Read more…

(Elizabeth Peredo Beltrán*) The climate change we are living is not any crisis, it is a global alert about the way toward self destruction that the powerful have chosen, given the lack of equitable possibilities that the world need in order to survive –the indigenous peoples, the social groups living in poverty, women, the elderly and children are the most affected by it in today’s world.

Read more…