This press release by El Espectador was released The Amazon Conservation Team, April 5th, 2018. Colombia’s Supreme Court issued a historic ruling combating climate change in Latin America. According to the decision, the Amazon region is now subject to rights, similar to those assigned to the Atrato River, and the Presidency and regional entities must act urgently to protect [...]
It seems logical to grant protection to nature by treating it as a living entity. And the law might be catching up This article by Jane Gleason White appeared in The Guardian, March 31st, 2018. On 20 March a community rally on the Margaret river south of Perth called for the river to be recognised [...]
This article by Ashifa Kasaam appeared in The Guardian, March 4th, 2018. A small municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec that was facing a million-dollar lawsuit from an oil and gas exploration company has won its court battle, bringing an end to a four-year ordeal that began when residents took steps to protect their [...]
This article by Rachel Dovey appeared in Next City, January 24, 2018. In a year marked by fires, hurricanes, drastic temperatures and $306 billion in climate-related damages, two-thirds of U.S. mayors believe that cities should take action on climate change, even if their efforts will cost them. Reflecting national trends, however, their views are highly [...]
The sacred mountain in the North Island is the third geographic feature in the country to be granted a ‘legal personality’ This article by Eleanor Ainge Roy appeared in The Guardian, December 22nd, 2017. Mount Taranaki in New Zealand is to be granted the same legal rights as a person, becoming the third geographic feature [...]
Two lawyers argue that the feds should impose “dictatorships for democracy” on cities and government bodies in fiscal crisis. This original article by Simon Davis-Cohen appeared in The Nation October 30, 2017. A nurse dispatched to Puerto Rico by the Registered Nurse Response Network described the island’s dire situation earlier this month. “A line formed [...]
This original essay was written by Paul Cienfuegos, Founder and Co-Director of Community Rights US. It has also been published in The PeaceWorker, Oregon’s monthly PeaceWorks news magazine. Paul welcomes other media to publish it also. In early October, Project Censored released its always-newsworthy Top 25 Most Censored Stories of the past year. These are urgent [...]
The suit’s backers say if corporations can hold legal protections like people, natural systems should, too. This article by Matt Smith originally appeared in Seeker, September 26, 2017. There’s an old saying in the arid American West: Whiskey’s for drinking — water’s for fighting. Now the perennial fights over the Colorado River, the biggest source [...]
This original article by Julie Turkewitz appeared in The New York Times, September 26, 2017. Does a river — or a plant, or a forest — have rights? This is the essential question in what attorneys are calling a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit, in which a Denver lawyer and a far-leftenvironmental group are asking a judge [...]
This original article by Will Falk appeared in the San Diego Free Press, September 25, 2017. On Tuesday, September 26, the Colorado River will sue the State of Colorado in a first-in-the-nation lawsuit requesting that the United States District Court in Denver recognize the river’s rights of nature. These rights include the rights to exist, [...]
