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We ask the UN to commit to drafting and adopting a Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth to complement the Human Rights Declaration.
We propose using the “Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth” from the Peoples Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia as inspiration amongst others.
We are also asking world leaders to acknowledge nature as a living being, honoring her as the source of all life on Earth, and all nations to include nature in their domestic legal systems as a rights-bearing entity.
See the declaration here.
As one of the key documents of the UN, this declaration would provide the global commitment and spur the paradigm shift needed from a human-centered world view, treating Earth as a resource to be exploited, to an Earth-centered approach, prioritizing the well-being of nature and recognizing the interconnections between nature and humans. Failing to do so will leave the Earth uninhabitable and render the Human Rights Declaration moot.
We started the Rights of Mother Earth signature campaign in 2011 to “be the voice for Mother Earth” at the Earth Summit Rio+20. Since then we have delivered two intermediary accounts of signatures to the former UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon; first over 117,000 at the Earth Summit Rio+20 in 2012 and the second account at the UN Climate Conference in Paris, the COP21, 2015. Currently we have a total amount of 141, 528 from previous online petition sites and signatures collected on paper, as well as drawings from children. This amount - plus over 160,000 signatures from our current online petition on Care2. (date of writing 29 April 2020) .
Why a Second Declaration?
The United Nation’s programs are mainly based on the protection and well being of humans – hence the Declaration of Human Rights is one of the key documents. What is missing today is a declaration that acknowledges Nature as a living being, with the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, rather than being seen as property or a resource to be consumed. The declaration in its self is not legally binding but can serve as an aspiration for all nations and point the way to align our laws with the laws of nature and include nature in the legal systems as a rights bearing entity. Today this is not the case our legal systems give rights only to people and institutions created by people, such as corporations.