Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth

I have long believed that all aspects of nature, not only human beings, need to have a seat at the decision-making table. But since it is always a human-created table, it can be difficult to develop a way that this could happen that is effective (at least from the perspective of nature). One way to do that is to recognize that when we give humans rights, we can also 'give' nature rights, which will then get implemented as if they are human obligations...things we must do not, or things we must do.

The President of Bolivia, Eva Morales, recently suggested the creation of a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth when he spoke to the G77 nations at a United Nations meeting on May 7, 2010. This is what he said, as reported by the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth website:

Some of the rights of nature that were proposed were:

- The right to life and to exist

- The right to regenerate its bio-capacity and to continue its vital cycles and processes free from human disruptions;

- The right to be free from contamination, pollution and toxic or radioactive waste;

- The right to not have its genetic structure modified or disrupted in a manner that threatens it integrity or vital and healthy functioning

He has already created rights of nature in that country's constitution.

Similar to this, Jospehine Mandamin, the Ojibwe grandmother doing the walk around the Great Lakes recently asked me 'can water have rights?'

I think that the greatest challenge we face is whether we will decide to accept that we must change our interpretation of our relationship to lands and waters and the earth. We must accept that we have not only rights to consume, but also the responsibilities to ensure the natural continuation of ecosystems and species we impact. I'm not sure how we do this, I think I will think about it, but stating the water ethics we commit to live by might be a first step.