Earth Law Center joins the fight to free orca from 50 year captivity and bring her home.

Lummi tribal members Squil-le-he-le (Raynell Morris) and Tah-Mahs (Ellie Kinley) announce partnership with Earth Law Center for legal representation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 10, 2020

Contact for Squil-le-he-le and Tah-Mahs: Julie Trimingham at  360-305-5880, info@sacredsea.org; Contact for Earth Law Center: Michelle Bender at 509-218-9338, mbender@earthlaw.org 

Earth Law Center joins the fight to free orca from 50 year captivity and bring her home.

The two Lummi Nation tribal members working for the release and return of the captive orca Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut (also known as Tokitae or her stage name, Lolita) announced today that they will be legally represented by Earth Law Center. The virtual press conference will be live streamed, and available at http://facebook.com/pg/OurSacredSea. 

"Our Lummi term for orca is qwe'lhol'mechen, which means our relations under the water," explained Squil-le-he-le (Raynell Morris), one of the Lummi women involved. "Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut is part of our community, our family. It's our Xa xalh Xechnging (sacred obligation) to bring our relation out of captivity at Miami Seaquarium, to bring her safely home to Xw'ullemy (the Salish Sea)."

Last July, Squil-le-he-le and Tah-Mahs (Ellie Kinley) announced their intent to sue Miami Seaquarium. Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut is a member of Sk'aliCh'elh, which is the Lummi family name for the Southern Resident Killer Whale population. The Lummi people are bound by culture and kinship ties to Sk'aliCh'elh, and have been in a reciprocal relationship with them since time immemorial.

"She was taken from her family and her culture when she was just a child, like so many of our children were taken from us and placed in Indian boarding schools. Reuniting her with her family, reuniting her with us, helps make us all whole," explained Tah-Mahs.

“We are humbled with the trust that's been placed in us.” said Michelle Bender, Ocean Rights Manager at the Earth Law Center. “At the foundation of Earth law and the Rights of Nature movement is the Indigenous worldview that we are a part of, not separate from, Nature and all of its species and elements. By legally representing our sisters and brothers, we hope to shed light on this truth that has been lost from Western society."

Dr. Kurt Russo, who has spent decades working to Indigenize policy frameworks, said, "This is a game changer. We're meeting Miami Seaquarium where they are, in the Western legal sphere. Earth Law Center is perfectly positioned to represent Tah-Mahs and Squil-le-he-le in their efforts to repatriate their relation."

"We're at a time when we all need healing," Tah-Mas added. "We're all family, qwe'lhol'mechen and Lummi people. What happens to them, happens to us."

#               #                 #

Earth Law Center (www.earthlawcenter.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit environmental law organization working around the world to transform the law to recognize, honor and protect nature's inherent rights to exist, thrive and evolve. ELC partners with frontline indigenous people and communities to challenge the overarching legal and economic systems that reward environmental harm, and advance governance systems that maximize social and ecological well-being.

For more information on Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut, go to www.sacredsea.org

River Defenders Win Major Victory for California Waterways

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPT 9, 2019

Grant Wilson (gwilson@earthlaw.org, 510-566-1063)
Matt O'Malley (matt@sdcoastkeeper.org, 619-758-7743)
Lindsey Jurca (lindsey@lawaterkepeer.org, 310-490-6887)

Sacramento, CA (Sept 9, 2019)—A coalition of river and coastal defenders have won a major victory against the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board), securing an order that requires the Water Board to meet the statutory deadlines for its list of impaired waterways in California. The lawsuit focused on the Water Board’s violations of the Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the latter being California’s guiding clean water law that protects the health of the state’s inland and coastal waters.

"This victory will ensure that the State Water Board upholds its basic legal duty to identify and restore impaired waterways in a timely manner," said Grant Wilson, Directing Attorney of Earth Law Center. "This is an important step towards reversing the historic decline of aquatic ecosystems across California."

Earth Law Center, Los Angeles Waterkeeper (LAW), and San Diego Coastkeeper filed suit in November 2017, challenging the Water Board’s Integrated Report process. The Integrated Report contains the previously mentioned list of impaired waterways, along with a broader report on overall water quality.

For nearly two decades, California has submitted its biennial Integrated Report years late, resulting in water quality decisions that are based on severely outdated information. For example, California's 2014 Integrated Report was submitted to the U.S. EPA more than 3 years and 6 months late. As a result of this ruling, the Water Board must submit reports on time.

“It was clear that the State Water Board was not taking the impaired waters lists as seriously as they should be or allocating the staff resources necessary for such an important program,” said Arthur Pugsley, Senior Attorney at LAW. “The Integrated Reports are foundational. Considering the necessity of these reports to inform the public of possible health threats and to trigger the adoption of restoration plans, this ruling is a victory not only for our waterways, but for the people and wildlife of California.”

“This victory should result in a more up-to-date and complete understanding of the challenges our waterways are facing, ensuring increased efficacy of restoration and recovery plans,” noted Matt O’Malley, Executive Director and Managing Attorney at San Diego Coastkeeper.

“We are pleased with the ruling, but it is unfortunate that watchdog groups have to bring suit in order to get the Water Board to abide by what the Clean Water Act requires of it,” said Bruce Reznik, Executive Director of LAW.

“While we prevailed in ensuring the Water Board fulfills its obligations under the Clean Water Act, we are disappointed by the dismissal of our plea to consider hydromodification (i.e., channelization) as an impairment itself when compiling its list of impaired waterways,” noted Grant Wilson, Directing Attorney at Earth Law Center. “Drained and fragmented waterways challenge species that are critical to our ecosystem, and those challenges will only intensify with the impacts of climate change. Our groups will continue working to ensure that the concretization that has devastated so many of our river systems in California is recognized for the negative impact it has on our environment and our communities and will work to restore them to healthy ecosystems.“

About California’s Integrated Report Process

California's Integrated Report process combines two reporting requirements, pursuant to sections 303(d) and 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. These requirements are also directly adopted into state law by the California Water Code. Section 303(d) requires states to undertake a process every two years to list waterways that are “impaired” if pollutants impact water uses, such as for drinking, swimming, fishing, and habitat. Such listings then trigger the development of clean-up plans. Currently, more than 40,000 miles (or about 20 percent) of California’s rivers and streams are classified as impaired by a variety of pollutants. Inclusion on the 303(d) list is often the first step towards development and implementation of remedial water quality plans. Section 305(b) includes a broader reporting requirement on the overall health of the state’s waterways, and is an important planning document, typically combined with the 303(d) list into an Integrated Report.

About the Plaintiffs

Earth Law Center (www.earthlawcenter.org) works to transform the law to recognize and protect nature’s inherent rights to exist, thrive and evolve. This includes advancing the inherent rights of rivers.

San Diego Coastkeeper (www.sdcoastkeeper.org) protects the region’s bays, beaches, watersheds and ocean for the people and wildlife that depend on them. Coastkeeper uses community outreach, education, and advocacy to promote stewardship of clean water and healthy coastal ecosystems.

Los Angeles Waterkeeper (www.lawaterkeeper.org) safeguards LA’s inland and coastal waters by enforcing laws and empowering communities.

Pronunciamiento en El Salvador considera que los bosques son entidades vivientes

PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA: 5 de junio de 2019

Contactos: Eneas Wilfredo Martínez Santos (eneaswilfredo@gmail.com, +503 70841322) Roberto Carlos Olivares Martínez (rcolivares@gmail.com, +503 77962043)
Grant Wilson (gwilson@earthlaw.org, +1 510-566-1063)

Ahuachapán, El Salvador: Hoy, en el Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente, la Asamblea Legislativa de El Salvador aprobó un pronunciamiento que considera que "los bosques son entidades vivientes", junto con otras declaraciones en apoyo a un ambiente saludable. El Pronunciamiento también afirma que los seres humanos deben comprometerse a cuidar, preservar y respetar los bosques, y promover acciones concretas para su expansión en El Salvador.

"Reconocer a los bosques como entidades vivientes sienta las bases para un nuevo paradigma en El Salvador en el que los seres humanos vivan en armonía con los bosques y los respeten como algo más que una propiedad", dijo el abogado salvadoreño Eneas Wilfredo Martínez Santos. "Sin los bosques naturales prósperos, nuestro planeta no puede mantener a los seres humanos ni a millones de otras especies que dependen de ecosistemas saludables".

Durante el último año, una coalición de líderes ambientales y sociales, incluidos abogados, ingenieros y estudiantes universitarios, han pedido el reconocimiento de los Derechos de la Naturaleza en El Salvador. En los últimos meses, la coalición, Sí por los Derechos de la Naturaleza, se ha centrado en una campaña para reconocer a los bosques como entidades vivientes.

El Salvador ha perdido aproximadamente el 85 por ciento de sus bosques nativos desde la década de 1960, y el planeta en su conjunto ha perdido alrededor del 80 por ciento. Pero en los últimos años, El Salvador se ha comprometido firmemente a restaurar sus paisajes.

"El pronunciamiento de hoy muestra el compromiso de El Salvador con nuevas formas de gobierno que tienen en cuenta las necesidades de los ecosistemas", dijo Grant Wilson, Abogado Director del Earth Law Center. "Esperamos que El Salvador pueda inspirar a muchos otros países a tomar acciones similares".

---

Sí para los Derechos de la Naturaleza está dedicado a establecer los Derechos de la Naturaleza en El Salvador.

Earth Law Center (www.earthlawcenter.org) trabaja para transformar la ley para reconocer y proteger los derechos inherentes de la Naturaleza a existir, prosperar y evolucionar.

Pronouncement in El Salvador Deems Forests to be Living Entities

Bosque Conchagua in El Salvador (via Wikipedia)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 5, 2019

Contacts:

• Eneas Wilfredo Martínez Santos (eneaswilfredo@gmail.com, +503 70841322)

• Roberto Carlos Olivares Martínez (rocolivares@gmail.com, +503 77962043)

• Grant Wilson (gwilson@earthlaw.org, +1 510-566-1063)

Ahuachapán, El Salvador: Today, on World Environment Day, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved a pronouncement deeming that “forests are living entities.” The pronouncement also states that each person must commit to caring for, preserving, and respecting forests, and to promoting concrete actions that expand forests in El Salvador. This historic recognition was part of a larger pronouncement in support of a healthy environment.

“Recognizing forests as living entities sets the stage for a new paradigm in El Salvador in which humans live in harmony with forests and respect them as more than just property,” said El Salvadorian lawyer Eneas Wilfredo Martínez Santos. “Without thriving natural forests, our planet cannot support humans nor millions of other species that rely upon healthy ecosystems.”

Over the last year, a coalition of environmental and social leaders—including lawyers, engineers, and university students—have called for recognition of the Rights of Nature in El Salvador. In recent months, the coalition, Yes for the Rights of Nature (“Sí por los Derechos de la Naturaleza”), has focused on a campaign to recognize forests as living entities.

El Salvador has lost about 85 percent of its native forests since the 1960s, and the planet as a whole has lost about 80 percent of its native forests. But in recent years, El Salvador has made a strong commitment to restoring its native landscapes.

“Today’s pronouncement shows El Salvador’s commitment to new forms of governance that consider the needs of ecosystems,” said Grant Wilson, Directing Attorney at Earth Law Center, which has provided legal support on the Rights of Nature in El Salvador. “We hope that El Salvador can inspire many other countries to take similar actions.”

---

Yes for the Rights of Nature (“Sí por los Derechos de la Naturaleza”) is dedicated to establishing Rights of Nature in El Salvador. Visit https://www.facebook.com/siporlanaturaleza.

Earth Law Center works to transform the law to recognize and protect nature’s inherent rights to exist, thrive and evolve. Visit www.earthlawcenter.org.

Publisher Confirmed for First Earth Law Legal Textbook

NASA.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 22, 2019

Contact: Grant Wilson (gwilson@earthlaw.org), 510-566-1063 Tony Zelle (tzelle@earthlaw.org), 617-388-4782

New York NY – Today, Earth Law Center finalized a contract with Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory, U.S., of the famed “red and black” Aspen Casebook Series, to publish the first ever law school textbook on Earth Law, including the Rights of Nature movement, entitled Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law.

Specific textbook subject matters include an overview of the Rights of Nature movement, human environmental rights, animal rights, the public trust doctrine, Earth Jurisprudence, guardianship of nature, and more. The textbook will feature over twenty leading academics and practitioners in these and other fields.

“Through the textbook, students will understand the dynamic nature of law and develop tools to practice in cutting-edge areas of environmental law and governance,” said Grant Wilson, Directing Attorney of Earth Law Center. “We are thrilled to partner with one of the world’s leading textbook publishers to educate the next generation of environmental lawyers.”

The textbook will be published in 2020 and will be available in the U.S. and internationally. While targeted at law schools, the textbook is also being made available to undergraduate and graduate programs.

“Earth Law can help solve the environmental crisis that threatens the integrity of ecosystems across the globe,” said Tony Zelle, who co-leads the project and serves on Earth Law Center’s Board of Directors. “Ecocentric laws are developing at an increasing pace as courts and legislatures reflect societies’ increasing moral commitment to future generations,” he continued. “This textbook will enable students and professionals to become practitioners in this movement.”

Environmental Leaders in El Salvador Announce Campaign to Give Legal Rights to Natural Forests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 30, 2019

Contacts: Eneas Wilfredo Martínez Santos (eneaswilfredo@gmail.com, +503 70841322)

Roberto Carlos Olivares Martínez (rocolivares@gmail.com, +503 77962043)

Grant Wilson (gwilson@earthlaw.org, +1 510-566-1063)

Ahuachapán, El Salvador: Today, a coalition of environmental and social leaders—including lawyers, engineers, and university students—announced the formation of a group called Yes for the Rights of Nature (“Sí por los Derechos de la Naturaleza”). The group’s first campaign is to recognize El Salvador’s natural forests as living entities possessing fundamental rights.

Towards this objective, the group released a “Declaration of the Rights of Natural Forests in El Salvador,” which calls upon the national government to adopt a strong commitment to Nature, “beginning with the recognition of natural forests as subjects of rights.” Rights of Nature organization Earth Law Center assisted with the legal drafting.

Recognition of the Rights of Nature is increasing worldwide. In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to constitutionally recognize Nature’s rights. More recently, a 2017 treaty agreement in New Zealand recognized the Whanganui River as “an indivisible and living whole” and “a legal person.” Last year, the Supreme Court of Colombia ruled that the entire Colombian Amazon is a subject of rights.

The proposed Declaration would acknowledge that natural forests are living entities with certain inalienable rights, including rights to life, to integral health, to support native biodiversity, and to independent legal guardianship, amongst others. The proposed amendment also recognizes related human rights, including the right to a healthy and sustainable climate.

“Giving legal rights to El Salvador’s natural forests is a gift, not only to ecosystems and species, but to all of El Salvador, particularly its future generations,” said lawyer Eneas Wilfredo Martínez Santos, one of the proponents of the project. “Without thriving natural forests, our planet cannot support humans nor millions of other species.”

El Salvador has lost about 85 percent of its native forests since the 1960s,[1] and the planet as a whole has lost about 80 percent of its native forests, resulting in the extinction of countless species. Forests support about 80 percent of the world’s land-based species and play a key role in the water cycle, carbon cycle, nutrient cycle, and other key processes that act as the very foundation of life on our planet. 

Yes for the Rights of Nature (“Sí por los Derechos de la Naturaleza”) expressed optimism that governmental authorities in El Salvador will support the proposal considering their recent support of ecosystem restoration. For example, in 2011, El Salvador committed to restoring one million hectares of degraded land by 2020 through the Bonn Challenge global restoration goal. El Salvador is also a leader within Initiative 20x20, which aims to restore and protect deforested and degraded lands across Latin America and the Caribbean.

---

Yes for the Rights of Nature (“Sí por los Derechos de la Naturaleza”) is dedicated to establishing Rights of Nature in El Salvador.

Earth Law Center (www.earthlawcenter.org) works to transform the law to recognize and protect nature’s inherent rights to exist, thrive and evolve.

---

[1] Michal Nachmany et al., "Climate Change Legislation in El Salvador," (2015) (citing World Bank statistics).

Earth Law Center Launches Community Toolkit for Rights of Nature

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Grant Wilson (gwilson@earthlaw.org, 510-566-1063)

New York, NY (March 26, 2019)—Today, Earth Law Center (ELC) announces the launch of a Community Toolkit for Rights of Nature as a free tool for local communities wishing to strengthen their protection of Nature. 

Municipalities across the U.S. have passed ordinances and resolutions that recognize Nature as a legal entity possessing rights, including in Santa Monica, CA and Crestone, CO. These local laws bolster existing ecosystem protections and guide a community towards a stronger, more meaningful relationship with Nature.

As with the abolition of slavery, granting women the right to vote, and the civil rights movement, local governments have been at the forefront of enshrining our expanded ethical considerations into law. So too is true with the Rights of Nature movement, with dozens of communities having recognized that Nature is a subject of rights. By contrast, our current legal and economic paradigms generally treat ecosystems and species as mere property.

“Our Toolkit is designed for communities that wish to take bold action in the face of global environmental degradation,” remarked Grant Wilson, Directing Attorney at Earth Law Center. “The effort to save our planet really begins inside town halls and city council meetings.”

The Rights of Nature movement is rapidly growing both in the U.S. and globally. In addition to Ecuador and Bolivia recognizing Rights of Nature nationally, at least three rivers, a national park, and a sacred mountain have also exercised their fundamental rights (the Whanganui in New Zealand, the Atrato in Colombia, the Vilcabamba in Ecuador, and the Te Urewera protected area and Mt. Taranaki in New Zealand). Last year, a judge in Colombia also declared the entire Colombian Amazon to be a subject of rights. 

The Toolkit was developed with significant input from Marsha Moutrie (former Santa Monica City Attorney) and Myra Jackson (Senior Advisor on Whole Earth Civics and Focal Point on Harmony with Nature with Geoversiv Foundation), who are leading experts in the field.

---

Earth Law Center (www.earthlawcenter.org) works to transform the law to recognize and protect Nature’s inherent rights to exist, thrive and evolve. This includes advancing the inherent rights of rivers through initiatives with local partners to secure rights recognition.