Future Perfect

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nvironment

legal

and

ethical

issues

slump in carbon prices, which itself is reducing much-needed

investment in low-carbon technologies.

The first principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration

states that

‘human beings… are entitled to a healthy and productive life in

harmony with nature’. This is true, but not the whole truth. Nature

requires such rights as well. We cannot scientifically, ethically

or practically treat the natural world as ‘resources’ and property

to serve our self-selected, self-destructive economic model. The

false dogma of humans over nature needs to shift to allow us to

recognize our interconnectedness with the natural world, and

acknowledge its inherent rights to exist and thrive, which in turn

will protect our own.

An essential step in this direction is to establish a legal system

that incorporates and respects the rights of ecosystems and species

to live in harmony with all other Earth inhabitants. This legal

system would be supported by an evolved economic system that

maximizes social and biological well-being, rather than private

wealth. Only a governance system based on a humble acknowl-

edgment of our place within a web of inter-relationships – one

that recognizes that a healthy Earth is fundamental to contin-

ued, flourishing human existence – can be deemed sustainable.

By acknowledging in law the science of our integration with the

environment, we will create governance structures that guide us

toward sustainable lives and communities.

Such an Earth-based governance system would respect the planet’s

limits, continuously evolving to reflect new science on the workings

and boundaries of Earth’s systems. It would incorporate ongoing

analysis of ethics for the purpose of developing decision-making

criteria, such as use of the precautionary principle of care. Finally,

Earth-based governance would recognize and implement in law the

rights of ecosystems and species to exist, thrive and evolve, and it

would protect the environment’s right to restoration for human-

caused destruction.

Nations and communities around the world are already beginning

to adopt and implement such legal systems. Most notably, in 2008

Ecuador became the first country to adopt a constitu-

tional provision endowing nature with inalienable,

enforceable rights.

Its new Constitution states that the

natural world has the right to exist, persist, maintain

itself and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions

and processes in evolution.

Further, the Constitution

provides the natural world with a right to restoration

that is independent of humans’ right to compensation.

Finally, it endows every person, community or national-

ity, the right and responsibility to call for enforcement of

these rights of nature before public bodies.

These Constitutional provisions were first tested in

a successful case in March 2011. In this legal matter,

which was brought by attorneys acting on behalf of the

Vilcabamba River, the court found that the river’s consti-

tutional right to flow had been violated by destructive

road development practices and ordered that the river

be fully restored to health.

Although restoration efforts

started, they have since lagged, and citizens have stepped

in to ensure judicial inspection of the site and reinvigor-

ated enforcement of the court’s orders.

Indigenous peoples are also working to ensure that

these Constitutional provisions become a reality. The

Kichwa people of Sarayaku in Ecuador’s Amazon region

obtain 90 per cent of their food from their local terri-

tory, and so they are particularly vulnerable to damage

to its health. The Sarayaku further espouse the world

view of ‘Kawsak Sacha cosmovisión,’ which incorpo-

rates an understanding of direct contact with Mother

Earth and sees the jungle as a living being, with spir-

itual representatives for each element. The Sarayaku

have been taking action in the Inter-American Court

of Human Rights to protect the jungle’s physical and

spiritual well-being from violently destructive projects

such as mining and fossil fuel extraction.

Children of the Kichwa Nation of Sarayaku

Installation of solar systems, Transition Town Totnes, UK

Image: Eriberto Gualinga

Image: Transition Network