WCC 2012 Res 100 - Activity Report

We are helping law schools and their students incorporate the global Earth Law movement into their curriculum's and student activities.Earth Law Center developed the first-ever Earth Law course, which was taught at the
Vermont Law School’s summer session for six years with great success. We also have created a secondary school "booster" curriculum - designed to complement science learning with hands on construction of a bottle biosphere. We have scaled outreach, contacting over 1000 schools to offer the Earth law course, club, guest lecturing and offer activities such as a rights of nature mock trail.

Within the IUCN, we submitted to the WCEL online seminar to train lawyers and judges on rights of nature issues (currently under consideration). ELC will train judges and lawyers on rights of nature at its planned online seminar, which will feature leading judges and other legal experts from around the world.

ELC worked to integrate existing global victories for river rights (including in New Zealand and Colombia), as well as ecological principles of river health, into a common set of rights that are universal for all rivers. Already, ELC’s Universal Declaration of Rights of Rivers was cited in an amicus brief in Patagonia, in support of the San Juan River’s right to flow. It also served as the basis for a rights of nature law in Mexico City – the first-ever such law in North America. ELC has been working working with local partners – including Cuatro al Cubo and others – to secure legal rights for rivers in Mexico. Based on this effort, the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District included the rights of waterways within the recently approved Water Sustainability Law of Mexico City (“Ley de Sustentabilidad Hídrica de la Ciudad de México”). This landmark water law recognizes that rivers, channels and streams possess a right to flow, a right to avoid harmful alterations to ecosystems and biodiversity, a right to be free from contamination, and a right to rescue and rehabilitate important water zones, amongst others. The law is only awaiting publication in the "Official Gazette" of Mexico City to become official.

ELC continues to advocate for the California State Water Resources Control Board to formally identify the most over-diverted waterways as “impaired” due to low flows under the Clean Water Act. Identification would help restore water to these rivers and streams. In November 2017, ELC and co-plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on this issue, with Lawyers for Clean Water representing our organization.

ELC is working with community grassroots organization Sacred Water, Sacred Land and local indigenous tribes to secure legal rights for the Great Lakes in the US.

Earth Law Center’s Ocean Rights Program promotes a new paradigm for ocean governance that focuses on the ocean’s own well-being. The program aims to not only establish protection for marine ecosystems, but to ensure these areas are fully protected and effectively managed. ELC’s objectives to ensure this outcome include:

Creating a holistic and ocean rights-based model framework for marine protected areas.
Establishing marine protected areas and sanctuaries, and securing legal rights for these areas.
Ensuring international treaty laws reflect the inherent rights of the ocean (such as through the Marine Biodiversity Treaty for the High Seas and Beyond, currently under negotiation).
Passing rights of nature laws in coastal communities. ELC completed a first draft of a model framework for marine protected areas after 500 hours of research and analysis. This framework serves as a tool and guideline for how to incorporate rights of nature into ocean governance. THe Framework underwent an online 'call for inputs' to gain expert recommendations. 42 inputs were received, including from IUCN WCEL members. Additionally, we created the 'Ocean Rights Initiative' calling upon the United Nations and stakeholders to adopt a holistic and rights-based approach to ocean governance. ELC has created multiple partnerships to establish legal rights for nature in marine area management. We launched a campaign with partners Organización para la Conservación
de Cetaceos to gain legal rights for the Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary in Uruguay. We worked with groups in South Africa to call upon Parliament to amend the new Marine Spatial Planning Bill to include rights of nature and the precautionary approach. A comment letter has been passed to members of Parliament and we look forward to keeping you posted on the bill’s final language. And finally, ELC was invited to collaborate with the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) on drafting a convention on the Rights of the Pacific Ocean.