PDF - Flipbook - Page 48
OUR WO R K
THEMES
R I GH TS OF NATURE
Rights of Nature
Bioneers
Rights of Nature is a global movement to protect Nature - rivers, mountains, ecosystems, speci昀椀c species
- by recognizing its intrinsic rights in the court of law.
The Rights of Nature laws protect Nature by identifying a natural entity’s legal rights. At its core, it reflects
ecocentric worldviews that perceive humans as a part
of Nature and obligated to maintain its balance. Just
as humans and corporations are considered to have
rights in the court of law, this legal strategy grants
rights to Nature herself and can be defended in a
court of law against harms, including environmental
degradation and loss of life.
Bioneers’ Rights of Nature Initiative (RNI) focuses
explicitly on the Rights of Nature within tribal
governments in the United States. This past
year, Bioneers’ RNI published and distributed
over 1,500 copies of the “Guide to Rights
of Nature in Indian Country,” hosted an
Intertribal Rights of Nature Gathering with 79
tribes and over 230 attendees, and witnessed
the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe unanimously
adopt a resolution for the Rights of Herring
after supporting the community over the
past two years. This resolution empowers the
Tribal Council to pass ordinances and laws to
protect the Herring’s ecosystem, deputizes the
Tribe’s Natural Resource Commission to create
programs and seek federal funding to support
ecosystem restoration, and declares the Tribe as
the Herring’s legal guardian.
