Event Calendar
The Rights of Nature vs. Human Rights?
The Rights of Nature vs. Human Rights?
University of Minnesota
Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs
April 11, 2024
8:30 am - 12:30 pm CDT
CDER’s Director of our Tribal Rights of Nature Program, Frank Bibeau, is joining a panel discussion - hosted by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota - with leading scholars, lawyers, and activists on the rights of nature in the Americas.
The discussion will include a focus on how the rights of nature have advanced not just the protection of the environment, but also Indigenous and Afrodescendant rights in Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States.
This event will be in English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation.
Register to Attend
Can’t Attend In Person? Check Out the Livestream for the event
Bowling Green Public Health Symposium - Thomas Linzey
2024 Public and Allied Health Symposium
From Crisis to Recovery: Health Challenges and Community Rights
in East Palestine, OH
Hosted by Bowling Green State University and the College of Health and Human Services
April 4, 2024
11:00am-2:00pm EST
Bowen-Thompson Student Union, Lenhart Grand Ballroom
CDER’s Senior Legal Counsel, Thomas Linzey is presenting as a keynote speaker at the Symposium.
He is widely recognized as the founder of the contemporary community rights movement which has resulted in the adoption of several hundred laws across the U.S. and world that protect the environment and public health. He will join public health experts Dr. Wes Vins, Laura Fauss, and Dr. Getchen Nickell, at the event.
The Symposium will be offered free of charge and will be offered in person and live stream. Lunch is free for registered in-person attendees, with registration required by March 15, 2024.
To register for this event and for more information, please visit here.
CDER's Frank Bibeau to Present at ASIL
CDER's Frank Bibeau to Present at ASIL
Wednesday April 3rd-Saturday, April 6th, 2024
The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights Tribal Rights of Nature Program Director, Frank Bibeau, will be speaking at the American Society of International Law annual meeting in Washington, DC. The meeting is being held April 3-6, 2024, bringing together lawyers from across the globe.
Frank, a member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa, will speak on the rights of nature, including his work to advance the rights of wild rice.
For registration and further information, click here.
Bioneers 2024 with CDER’s Thomas Linzey & Mari Margil
Bioneers 2024: Revolution From the Heart of Nature
March 28-30, 2024
Bioneers is returning with its annual, multi-day conference in 2024.
CDER’s Executive Director, Mari Margil, and Senior Legal Counsel, Thomas Linzey, will be speaking at the conference, located in Berkeley, CA.
To stay up to date on conference details or to register and purchase tickets, please visit the conference website HERE.
Riverkeeper Webinar Series: Rights of Nature – From Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism
March 12, 2024: 6:00PM to 7:00PM
CDER’s Senior Legal Counsel Thomas Linzey will be joining Karenna Gore of the Center for Earth Ethics, along with Steven “Owl” Smith of the Ramapo Munsee Nation to discuss the movement for the Rights of Nature.
This webinar will give an overview of the field, situate it in the context of Riverkeeper’s work, and give up-to-date information about jurisprudence and litigation on the national and international level.
This webinar will be available via Zoom, and is free. To register for this event, please visit here.
Introduction to Earth Laws
Four Week Online Course
March 5th-26th, 2024
Tuesdays from 4pm to 6pm Brisbane Time / Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) (5pm - 7pm AEDT)
This course is facilitated by Dr Michelle Maloney and features experts from legal fields including Earth jurisprudence, Rights of Nature, Ecocide, Indigenous First Laws, and more. CDER’s very own Executive Director, Mari Margil, will be a presenting speaker. Lawyers, legal scholars, and law students will find the course particularly beneficial and will be able to claim Professional Development points from their relevant jurisdiction, but this course will be enriching to those in other career fields as well. Participants can choose the option to participate in assessments to earn a digital badge and certificate from the Australian Earth Law Alliance.
All courses are recorded.
Course Fees:
$295 per person, for people who work in the corporate or government sector
$180 per person, for people who work in the community and not-for-profit sector
For more information, please visit the course description or the course outline. For questions and registration, please contact aela@earthlaws.org.au.
Mari Margil at the De Lange Conference
Scientia/De Lange Conference XIII:
Brave New World: Who Decides?
Hosted by Rice University and the Baker Institute
Save the Date! February 9-10th, 2024
CDER’s Executive Director, Mari Margil, will be providing the lunchtime talk, on February 10th, at the DeLange Conference, hosted by Rice University with the Baker Institute.
More information on the conference, including registration, can be found here.
Los Derechos de la Naturaleza en la Resevera Marina de Galápagos
Los Derechos de la Naturaleza en la Resevera Marina de Galápagos
The event is organized by CDER with Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Thursday, December 7, 2023
Location: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
1 PM Ecuador (GMT-5)/1PM Eastern - En Espanol
Livestream available here
We invite you to attend this in-person conference on December 7th, where the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) attorney, Hugo Echeverria, will be presenting on a panel on the protection of marine life in the Galapagos, which will also include renowned USFQ Professors Alex Hearn and Juan Manuel Guayasamín, both experts on Galapagos issues as well as on protected species.
This conference is an opportunity to learn about the challenges the Galapagos Marine Reserve faces regarding the protection of marine life. This is the first event organized by the CDER focusing on the “blue” perspective of the rights of nature, a topic that is receiving growing attention by the rights of nature movement worldwide.
In Ecuador, the Constitution secured the rights of nature - Pacha Mama - in 2008.
A livestream option is also available here.
Los Derechos Constitucionales de la Naturaleza en el Ecuador: Casos Pendientes en la Corte Constitucional
Los Derechos Constitucionales de la Naturaleza en el Ecuador: Casos Pendientes en la Corte Constitucional
Law School of Universidad de las Américas UDLA
November 22nd, 2023
5:00 PM Eastern Time, 5:00 PM Ecuador (GMT-5) Local Time
You are invited to join us in-person or online, for this seminar titled Los Derechos Constitucionales de la Naturaleza en el Ecuador: Casos Pendientes en la Corte Constitucional. This event will be en Espanol.
This event will take place in Quito at the Law School of Universidad de las Américas UDLA, in Auditorio 1 y 2 Campus Granados.
The seminar is organized by the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) with the Law School of Universidad de las Américas UDLA. Here is the list of speakers:
CDER’s External Attorney, Hugo Echeverria
Ecuador Constitutional Court Judge, Alejandra Cárdenas, who is also a Professor at UDLA Law School
Environmental Law Professor Viviana Morales
Ecuador is the first country to recognize constitutional rights to nature, in 2008. Ecuador’s Constitutional Court - the top Court of the country - has issued the first jurisprudence endowing these new rights with essential content.
Today there are multiple rights of nature cases pending before the Constitutional Court. The goal of the seminar is the analysis of these cases, which include the river Dulcepamba, the river Piatúa, and the Forest of the Cuenca Alta Nangaritza cases, on hydropower and mining issues.
The event will continue the Constitutional Law discussion on the scope and content of these new rights that CDER has been hosting through a series of webinars beginning in 2022. In 2022, we organized the first one with Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales. In March 2023, we organized the second one with Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja; in May, the third one with Universidad de Guayaquil; and in September 2023, the fourth one with Pontificia Universidad Católica.
This event is free, and will be broadcast via UDLA's social media as well, with all social platforms located on the official program website.
Registration Now Open: Bioneers Learning-The Rights of Nature
Bioneers Learning-The Rights of Nature:
Drafting, Adopting, and Enforcing Rights of Nature Laws in Cities, Towns, and Counties Workshop
Four-Week Course with Thomas Linzey & Mari Margil
October 19th - November 9, 2023
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM Eastern
Coming this October, the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) is excited to be presenting a four-week course as part of the new Bioneers Learning program. Launched this year by our partner organization Bioneers, Bioneers Learning courses will focus on a range of environmental, social justice, and other topics, equipping engaged citizens and professionals with the knowledge, tools, resources, and networks to initiate or deepen your engagement, leading to real change in your life and community.
CDER’s Mari Margil and Thomas Linzey will lead an exciting four-week course designed to enrich and educate on the breadth of work being done in the Rights of Nature movement. "The Rights of Nature: Drafting, Adopting, and Enforcing Rights of Nature Laws in Cities, Towns, and Counties" will provide attendees with a full background on the Rights of Nature movement in the United States and around the world, and prepare them to engage in their own communities to develop, adopt, and enforce local Rights of Nature laws.
The course will also include an overview of how indigenous communities are adopting and enforcing Rights of Nature laws and policies. The course will also feature guest presenters, including key organizers in Ecuador and tribal attorneys.
What you will learn:
The Indigenous origins of the Rights of Nature and its evolution in Western legal theory
How to support the Rights of Nature in your community and elsewhere
An in-depth understanding of Rights of Nature laws and court decisions around the world, including with tribal and first nations, Ecuador, Bolivia, India, Colombia, Brazil, Canada, Spain, and elsewhere
Strategies for advancing Rights of Nature laws in your communities
Visit here to learn more information about this educational opportunity. Register here.
FORUM 2023: Earth Democracy and the Rights of Nature
FORUM 2023 Earth Democracy and the Rights of Nature
Hosted by the Temple of Understanding
Thursday 12 October, 2023
10am – 12:30pm ET /Online Event
The Temple of Understanding is hosting FORUM 2023 on Earth Democracy and the Rights of Nature.
CDER Executive Director Mari Margil and CDER Nepal Associate Shrawan Sharma will present on the rights of nature in the Himalayas and around the world.
This web conference will also feature:
Jerome Foster II, White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Member
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
His Holiness Kyabgon Gongma Trichen Rinpoche (The Sakya Trichen)
Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and President of Navdanya International
Bill McKibben, Contributing writer to The New Yorker, Founder of Third Act
As well, other members of the Religious Naturalism Movement and Indigenous leaders will be featured.
Registration is free for this online event. Register HERE.
Thomas Linzey at the National Environmental Tar Creek Conference
Tuesday, October 10th - Thursday October 12th, 2023
NEO College
Miami, Oklahoma
CDER’s Thomas Linzey will be speaking at the 25th National Environmental Tar Creek Conference. This event will be an important marker in the history of LEAD Agency and the work done to clean the environment in Ottawa County, Oklahoma.
Hear updates from multiple city, tribal, state, and federal agencies on their work, research in the fields related to restoration, and personal stories from those working and retired in the area.
CDER partners with the LEAD Agency to protect the rights of Tar Creek. Thomas will present on this, and the legal and organizing work being done in other communities to protect against toxins and other environmental and public health threats.
To learn more about this conference and to receive word on ticket availability, visit the event page here.
Tar Creek Conference 2023-Thomas Linzey Keynote and Continuing Legal Education Seminar
Tar Creek Conference 2023
Thomas Linzey Keynote & Continuing Legal Education Seminar
at NEO A&M College in Miami, Oklahoma
Hosted by LEAD Agency, Inc.
On Monday and Tuesday, October 9-10, 2023, at the Tar Creek Conference 2023, CDER’s Senior Legal Counsel, Thomas Linzey is presenting a Continuing Legal Education course - “The Rights of Nature and Application to Tar Creek” - and will be keynoting the conference on Tuesday.
This course will explore the growth of the movement toward recognizing legally enforceable rights of nature and ecosystems in the U.S. and around the world. It will present the legal theory around the rights of nature, and examine several case studies in which laws have been adopted at the municipal, state, and national levels to recognize the rights of nature. It will also review several enforcement cases that have been filed in U.S. and tribal courts and then summarize judicial rulings in Ecuador around the enforcement of the rights of nature in the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court. Thomas will also speak about how the rights of nature laws could be applied to protect Tar Creek through municipal legislation.
Those interested in attending this Continuing Legal Education Seminar can register here. Materials will be sent in advance of the event. More information can also be sought via contacting the host here.
Rights of Nature Symposium - Updates from Around the World
Wednesday, September 27 - 7pm Eastern Time // Thursday, September 28 - 9am (Australian Eastern Standard Time - Brisbane/Sydney time)
The Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA) is hosting an online symposium, sharing updates about the Rights of Nature from around the world.
Mari Margil of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) is the opening speaker, presenting on the Rights of Nature movement, from the first laws to today. Hugo Echeverria, CDER’s Attorney in Quito, will present on developments with the constitutional rights of nature - Pachamama - in Ecuador.
The event will feature speakers from around the world, including Australia, India, North and South America, Europe, and the Pacific.
This event is part of AELA’s month-long series of webinars, workshops, and discussions, exploring how we can reshape human societies towards Earth-centered governance and create a healthy, safe future for all life on this beautiful planet of ours.
To register for this free online event, click HERE.
Webinar: Rights of Nature cases pending before Ecuador’s Constitutional Court/Derechos de la Naturaleza: casos pendientes ante la Corte Constitucional del Ecuador
Rights of Nature: cases pending before Ecuador’s Constitutional Court/Derechos de la Naturaleza: casos pendientes ante la Corte Constitucional del Ecuador
Organized and hosted by the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights and Universidad de Guayaquil Faculty of Law
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 In Spanish, En Espanol
8:00 PM Eastern Time/7:00 PM Quito Time
Ecuador is the first country to recognize constitutional rights of nature, in 2008.
Between 2019 and 2022, the Constitutional Court -the top Court of the country- issued the first jurisprudence endowing these new rights with essential content: A total of six verdicts specifically addressing the rights of nature.
A number of cases are now pending at the Court. The goal of the Webinar is the analysis of these cases, from a Constitutional Law focus. These cases include the Río Dulcepamba, the Río Piatúa, and the case on Cuenca Alta del Río Nangaritza (addressing mining and hydropower plants). The event's purpose is to continue the legal discussion on the scope and content of these new rights.
The event is organized by CDER and Universidad de Guayaquil Faculty of Law. CDER’s Ecuador attorney, Hugo Echeverria, will join the panel with Universidad de Guayaquil Constitutional Law Professors Sandra Tapia and Roberto Gomez. The event will be moderated by the Dean of the Law School, Professor Leonel Fuentes. Italy's Centro di Ricerca EuroAmericano Sulle Politiche Costituzionali will also join us.
It is the third Webinar of its kind: Last year, CDER organized the first event with the Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales. In March 2023, we organized a second webinar with Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja.
Watch the webinar live! The event will be live broadcast the social media of Universidad de Guayaquil's Law School. It will be made available on their Facebook, YouTube, and via Zoom, at 847 3347 6866.
The Society of Environmental Journalists: "Reporting on the Rights of Nature Movement”
The Society of Environmental Journalists Conference, Panel: “Reporting on the Rights of Nature Movement”
Located on the campus of Boise State University
Saturday, April 22nd, 2023
10:45 AM MT (Mountain Time)
The Society of Environmental Journalists, the only “North American membership association of professional journalists dedicated to more and better coverage of environmental-related issues,” has invited Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, to speak about the rights of nature at their annual conference, to be held from April 19-23 on the campus of Boise State University.
Linzey will speak on a panel entitled “Reporting on the Rights of Nature Movement” facilitated by Katie Surma of Inside Climate News, along with Elliott Moffett, a tribal advocate for the Nez Perce Tribe, and . The panel will be held at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 22nd.
Other speakers at the conference include author David Quammen, U.S. Representative Mike Simpson, and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Online Registration closes on April 14th, and all information can be found HERE.
Climate Rights and the Rights of the Great Lakes, featuring Thomas Linzey
Climate Governance Variability in the Great Lakes Project presents “Climate Rights and the Rights of the Great Lakes”
Hosted by the University of Minnesota-Duluth
April 13-14, 2023
Duluth, MN
The Climate Governance Variability in the Great Lakes Project (CGVG) is hosting a gathering of scientists, policy researchers, and academics to examine how climate-driven disturbances are impacting the Great Lakes region, and policy solutions to those disturbances at the local, state, federal and tribal governmental level.
This National Science Foundation-funded project at the University of Minnesota-Duluth has invited Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel at the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, to present on a panel entitled “Climate Rights and the Rights of the Great Lakes” to talk about the emerging legal field of recognizing and enforcing the legal rights of nature, how those laws have been used to protect waterways, and how they could be used to limit climate change and its effects on the Great Lakes region.
Should the Moon have legal rights?
Should the Moon have legal rights?
Join us for this important discussion!
Please note the date and time: Tuesday, April 11 at 8 PM (New York, Eastern Time) / Wednesday, April 12 at 10 AM AEST (Brisbane, Australia Time)
Corporations and governments around the world are making plans to return to the Moon, and not just to visit our celestial neighbor, but to mine its minerals, extract its water, and create permanent settlements for further space exploration.
Do human beings have a right to extract resources from the Moon? What will the impacts be? Who's making these decisions? And what are the alternatives?
Join us as we discuss what's planned for the Moon, the risks and threats posed to the Moon and to Earth, and what type of governance strategies might be put in place to protect the Moon from harm, including recognizing the moon as a legal entity.
** This event is being held on 'Yuri's night' which is a global acknowledgment of the first person to go into space. For more information about Yuri's night visit: https://yurisnight.net/
This event is free and virtual. REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK HERE
MODERATOR & EVENT HOST
Dr. Michelle Maloney, National Convenor, Australian Earth Laws Alliance
SPEAKERS
ALICE GORMAN
Dr. Alice Gorman is an internationally recognized leader in the field of space archaeology. Her research on space exploration has been featured in National Geographic, New Scientist, and Archaeology magazine. She is a faculty member of the International Space University's Southern Hemisphere Space Program in Adelaide. Her book Dr Space Junk vs the Universe: Archaeology and the Future (NewSouth Publishing, MIT Press, 2019) won the NIB Award People's Choice and the John Mulvaney Book Award, as well as being shortlisted for the NSW and Queensland Premier's Awards and the Adelaide Festival Awards. She has worked extensively in Indigenous heritage management, providing advice for mining industry, urban development, government departments, local councils and Native Title groups in NSW, WA, SA and Queensland. She is also a specialist in stone tool analysis, and the Aboriginal use of bottle glass after European settlement. Alice is a member of the Advisory Council of the Space Industry Association of Australia, a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and President of the Anthropological Society of South Australia. She tweets as @drspacejunk.
CASSANDRA STEER
Dr. Cassandra Steer is Deputy Director of the Australian National University Institute for Space (InSpace), with a focus on Mission Specialists. Globally recognised for her expertise in space governance, space law, and space security, she has published widely on these topics, including the application of the law of armed conflict and use of force in outer space. She has consulted to the Australian, Canadian and U.S Departments of Defence, the Australian Space Agency and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on these issues. She has taught space law and space security at McGill university, the ANU College of Law, the National Security College and the Australian Defence College. Dr Steer is co-founder of the Australian Centre for Space Governance (ACGS), which brings together experts in space law, space policy, space history, space ethics, space security, space property, and political and social sciences applied to space, from seven different universities. She has represented the ACSG at the UN, and brokered research, education and policy contracts on behalf of the ACSG with the ACT Government, the Australian Space Agency, the Department of Defence, DFAT, Geoscience Australia, and some Australian law firms.
EYTAN TEPPER
Dr. Eytan Tepper is a Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of the Space Governance Lab at Indiana University Bloomington, where he is affiliated with both the Maurer School of Law the Ostrom Workshop and teaches Space Governance and Space-Cybersecurity. Dr. Tepper earned his doctorate from the McGill University Institute of Air and Space Law and subsequently pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the New York University (NYU) School of Law. His research focus is space law and governance, and he leads several projects for which he obtained external funding from grant agencies in Canada and the US: “Space – Cyber Governance”, “Corporate Sovereigns: The Governance of Space Exploration Corporations”, and the Carnegie-funded project: “Polycentric Multilateralism: Reimagining the Roles of International Institutions in Space Governance and Beyond”. He has published in journals like the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, Journal of Space Law, Space Policy, and New Space and has two book contracts with Cambridge and Springer. Prior to his return to academe, he was a practicing lawyer with a career spanning the public and private sectors, representing government ministries and Fortune 500 companies.
MARI MARGIL
Mari Margil is one of the leading global voices for the recognition of legally enforceable rights of ecosystems and nature. She serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER). In 2008, she served as a consultant to Ecuador’s national Constituent Assembly, helping to draft the world’s first rights of nature constitutional provisions. She is co-author of The Bottom Line or Public Health (Oxford University Press, 2010) and Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence (Wakefield Press, 2011).
Register today! This event is entirely free and virtual. REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK HERE
Also, check out the recent article on this topic by Dr. Michelle Maloney, Dr. Alice Gorman, and Mari Margil: Imposing Lunar Time Zones - A Giant Leap Toward Colonizing the Moon - A Declaration for the Rights of the Moon
Being with Plants: Expanding Fields of Compassion
Being with Plants: Expanding Fields of Compassion - On-line Event
Tuesday, March 21, 5 PM Eastern/2 PM Pacific
Join us for this exciting on-line event hosted by Prairiewoods on respecting and protecting the plant world.
For many of us, it is hard to turn compassion into action simply because we don’t know where to start. Plants are more than something to harvest food or fibers from. We value their beauty and want to preserve plant communities, but how do we take that level of respect and turn it into impactful action?
Join us as we explore this question with leaders who work to remind us of the sacredness of plants, build awareness about plants, be present with plants, and protect plants.
This is a two-hour virtual program via Zoom facilitated by August Stolba of Prairiewoods with a keynote address by Paul Moss, founder of The Plant Initiative.
It will feature a panel discussion with Blackfoot Inipi Water Pourer Kerry Batteau, Trees Forever Founder Shannon Ramsay, Nature and Forest Therapy Guide Emelia Sautter, and our own Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) Executive Director Mari Margil.
The cost is $20 for this Zoom keynote and panel discussion. Registration is required and available here.
Rights of Nature and Indigenous Activism
Rights of Nature and Indigenous Activism
Monday, Mar 20, 2023
4:30 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time)/7:30 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time)
In 2018, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe recognized the rights of manoomin (wild rice), the first law to recognize the legal rights of a plant species. In 2021, manoomin and the White Earth Band sued the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in White Earth Tribal Court to enforce the rights of wild rice, the first rights of nature enforcement case to be brought in a tribal court.
White Earth tribal attorney Frank Bibeau and Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, will be presenting.
Please register for this free virtual event HERE.
The Rights of Nature, Cases Pending Before the Ecuador Constitutional Court - Los Derechos de la Naturaleza, Casos Pendientes de decision en la Corte Constitucional del Ecuador
The Rights of Nature, Cases Pending Before the Ecuador Constitutional Court - Los Derechos de la Naturaleza, Casos Pendientes de decision en la Corte Constitucional del Ecuador
Thursday, March 9, from 11:00am to 1pm Eastern Time/Ecuador Time (UTC-5). The event will be in Spanish.
This webinar will be hosted by CDER and the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) in Ecuador.
Hugo Echeverría, CDER's Ecuador attorney, will be joined by Pedro Puertas and Enrique Luzuriaga, who both serve as UTPL Professors on Constitutional Law. They will address the following: a) The constitutional rights of nature; b) Ecuadorian jurisprudence on the rights of nature; and c) Pending cases on rights of nature at the Constitutional Court.
All are welcome. Please register at this link to attend this virtual event: https://acortar.link/NghYHg.
Thomas Linzey Appearing on Free Speech TV to discuss the Ohio Rail Disaster
Friday, March 3rd, 2023
9:30 pm EST (Eastern Standard Time)
An interview with Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel of CDER will air on Free Speech TV on Friday, March 3rd, at 9:30 pm Eastern Time. This interview focuses on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The concept of the rights of nature will be an important framing point for how legal systems can work to prevent such tragedies, and protect human life, and the ecosystems of their communities. This interview can be located on the Mobilized News TV show here.
Webinar: Los derechos constitucionales de la Naturaleza en Ecuador: casos pendientes de decisión en la Corte Constitucional
Los derechos constitucionales de la Naturaleza en Ecuador: casos pendientes de decisión en la Corte Constitucional
Thursday, November 17th, 2022
4 PM Quito/EST, 1 PM PST
Event is free, and registration is not required. In Espanol.
Presented by the Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales of Ecuador (IAEN) and the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights.
This event is focused on the pending cases at the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court on the rights of nature. particularly of important focus is the River Dulcepamba (and the deviation of natural riverbed), the River Piatúa (reduction of ecological water flow), and the Forest of Alto Nangaritza (mining in fragile ecosystems). Each is a vital component in the sum of how ecosystems affect creatures, wildlife, and humanity.
Professor Andreas Gutmann, of the University of Bremen, will be moderating from Germany.
Panelists include:
Hugo Echeverria, Ecuador, external attorney for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
Viviana Morales, Constitutional Law instructor for IAEN
Agustin Grijalva, a former Judge of the Constitutional Court
This webinar is free and open for everyone. Registration is not required. The link to access the webinar may be found here.
Law Versus Digital Technologies: A Necessary Alliance? Legal, Economic and Environmental Opportunities and Challenges
Law Versus Digital Technologies: A Necessary Alliance?
Legal, Economic and Environmental Opportunities and Challenges
Friday, September 30 & Saturday, October 1, 2022
Friday: 8:30 AM-6:00 PM CEST
Saturday: 8:30 AM -12:30 PM CEST
Brussels, Belgium
Registration for Participants is 8:30-9:00 AM Friday and Saturday
Presented by the International Association of Lawyers, with support from the Brussels Bar, and in collaboration with hub.brussels.
Technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence are changing our environment and influencing our way of thinking by pushing back the boundaries of the possible ever further and ever faster. For lawyers, these rapid and constant evolutions not only disrupt our daily professional life but also raise major ethical challenges: how do we integrate these advances into our legal system without losing its coherence and how to benefit from the opportunities they offer without jeopardizing fundamental rights and the rule of law?
CDER’s Mari Margil will be presenting at this seminar, participating in a panel on the innovative advancements in the realm of environmental law. This seminar will highlight some of the implications of these developments for our clients and for us in various fields, as well as possible responses to the issues they raise.
Environmental Panel
10:00-11:00 AM CEST (Central European Summer Time), Friday, September 30, 2022
Moderator:
• Emmanuel Daoud, President of the UIA Business and Human Rights commission, AARPI VIGO, Paris, France
Speakers:
• Marie Toussaint, Member of the European Parliament and environmental activist, France
• Diana Alvarez, Tierra Digna, Bogota, Colombia
• Mari Margil, Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights - CDER, Spokane, WA, USA
• Baptiste Morizot, Philosopher, writer, and lecturer in philosophy at the University of Aix-Marseille, France
An informational program is available. Please register for this seminar here.
Democratic & Environmental Rights- Including the Soil, with Thomas Linzey
Democratic and Environmental Rights-Including the Soil
with Senior Legal Counsel, Thomas Linzey
Presented by the Soil Not Oil Coalition.
This event is Saturday, September 17th, 2022, at 5:00 PM PST/8:00 PM EST.
CDER’s Thomas Linzey will present a keynote presentation at the Soil Not Oil Coalition Gathering.
This conference is focused on practical solutions to climate change, at which attendees will learn about the root causes and effects of climate instability, as well as solutions that can lead us towards climate stability. The conference is open to all, including students, educators, activists, farmers, scientists, investors, policymakers, health providers, families, urban planners, and everyone else concerned about life on earth.
Thomas Linzey serves as Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights.
To register for the conference, including Thomas’s keynote, please click here.
Ticket pricing ranges from $100-$300.
Reflecting on the Rights of Nature with Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil
Reflecting on the Rights of Nature
with CDER’s Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil
Presented by the Australian Earth Laws Alliance in partnership with the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
This event is Thursday, September 8th, 2022 at 10:00 AM AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) - which is Wednesday, September 7th at 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific.
CDER’s Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil are pioneers in the field of environmental law, and in the field of developing laws to protect the Rights of Nature and community rights. They are joining the Australian Earth Laws Alliance as they celebrate Earth Laws Month 2022 to engage in a discussion reflecting on more than 15 years of Rights of Nature activism and legal developments. This webinar is part of a month-long series of webinars, public lectures, workshops, virtual art exhibitions, and more - to explore and celebrate our relationship with the living world.
All are welcome. This virtual event is free. Register for the event here.
Speakers
Thomas Linzey-He serves as Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights. He is the co-founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and is widely recognized as the founder of the contemporary “community rights” movement which has resulted in the adoption of hundreds of municipal laws across the United States. He also sits on the Board of Advisors of the New Earth Foundation. Linzey is a graduate of Widener Law School and a three-time recipient of the law school’s public interest law award. He has been a finalist for the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award, and is a recipient of the Pennsylvania Farmers Union’s Golden Triangle Legislative Award. He is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, and is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Third, Fourth, Eighth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. District Court for the Western and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania.
Mari Margil-She serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights and program manager for CDER’s International Center for the Rights of Nature. Margil previously served as the Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). In 2008, she served as a consultant to Ecuador’s national Constituent Assembly, helping to draft the world’s first Rights of Nature constitutional provisions. Margil is widely viewed as one of the leading global voices for the recognition of legally enforceable rights of ecosystems and nature. In her role with CDER, Margil works with national, state, and local governments, tribal nations, and indigenous communities in Australia, Sweden, the Philippines, Nepal, and elsewhere, to advance legal and policy frameworks regarding Rights of Nature. She has served as the primary drafter of a “Himalayas Bill of Rights” (Nepal) and other groundbreaking legislation.
Peat-Fest 2022: Rights of Peatlands
Peat-Fest 2022
Rights of Peatlands
Presentation Airing August 30th at 9 AM Pacific, 12 PM Eastern, and 6 PM Central European Standard Time (CEST).
Global, Virtual Event - Registration Open!
Peat-Fest 2022 is presented by RE-PEAT.
RE-PEAT is a youth-led collective on a mission to change people’s perceptions of peatlands. They work in a collaborative, creative, and holistic fashion, depicting peatlands themselves in novel ways as well as placing a large focus on the broader context of peatlands.
Peatlands, found around the globe, are wetland ecosystems containing rich, organic matter. Under threat from human development, peatlands are major carbon sinks and critically important for curbing climate changes, and provide habitat for a wide range of species and thus critically important for protecting biodiversity.
The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) is thrilled to joined RE-PEAT for Peat-Fest.
This year’s conference theme is the Rights of Peatlands. CDER’s Mari Margil will help open the conference, presenting a session on the growing Rights of Nature movement and strategies for how we can protect the rights of peatlands.
Peatlands are truly ecosystems for our times - requiring impactful tools for ensuring viable ecosystems in the short term, and potentially contributing to transforming our relationship with our natural surroundings going forward. Rights of Nature has the potential to transform our relationship with the natural world by expanding legal systems for the non-human world to provide us with the opportunity to hold corporations and governments accountable.
Peat-Fest 2022 Speakers:
The full lineup of speakers will be available soon and includes:
Mari Margil, Center for Democratic and Environmental and Rights
Radha D’Souza, Professor at University of Westminister Law School
Alistair McIntosh, Scottish writer and environmental activist
Khairani Barokka, writer, poet and artist
Chile: A New Ecological Constitution
A New Ecological Constitution for Chile
Conversation on the constitutional process and its effect on international environmental constitutionalism
Wednesday, June 29, 2022 **This event will be in Spanish.
10:00-11:30 AM CDMX, Quito and Bogotá
11:00-12:20 AM Santiago
Moderated by Cristina Lux, lawyer for Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA).
Chile is on the verge of voting on a new Constitution. In environmental terms, the text proposes to change the way we relate to our environment and nature. This new Constitution could be the first Ecological Constitution of the country. On July 5, the Constitutional Convention must propose the text of the new Constitution to the country, which must be voted on September 4 in a national plebiscite.
In this virtual seminar, we will talk with experts who have been involved in the process since its inception. We will also analyze this process from a comparative perspective, and based on the contemporary guidelines of international environmental law. CDER will participate in panel 2, along with FIMA and a representative of the Chilean Constitutional Convention. CDER will share the Ecuadorian experience in recognizing and implementing the rights of nature in its national constitution.
First Panel
New Constitution in Chile: A democratic process in complex times
Claudia Heiss, Political Scientist, Head of the Political Science Program at the Institute of Public Affairs of the University of Chile
Martin Corvera, Director of Projects and Innovation of the Smart Citizenship Foundation
Josefina Correa, Lawyer and political communicator
Second Panel
An Ecological Constitution for Chile
Carolina Palma, Political Scientist, Advocacy Coordinator of the NGO FIMA
Luis Jimenez Caceres, Lawyer, Constituent representative of the Aymara people
Hugo Echeverria, External Attorney, Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
Please register for this event HERE.
Bioneers - Panel, Rights of Nature: From Grassroots to Mainstream
Bioneers Conference 2022
Panel - Rights of Nature: From Grassroots to Mainstream
Saturday, May 14, 2022
5:45 PM EST/2:45 PM PST
Bioneers presents their latest in-person and virtual conference, A Window Through, from May 13-15, 2022, in San Francisco. Registration is now open!
Join us on the conference main stage, on Saturday, May 14, for a panel titled Rights of Nature: From Grassroots to Mainstream. The panel will include CDER’s Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel, Frank Bibeau, Tribal Attorney of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and Samantha Skenandore, Tribal Attorney in Wisconsin. Alexis Bunten is moderating.
For over 15 years, the Rights of Nature movement has been dramatically altering the political framework and standpoint with which we see our world. The Earth may have once been a tool to be used, but society is moving towards a clearer understanding that our planet is its own entity with inherent rights to exist, persist, flourish, and evolve which can now be protected under the law. The Rights of Nature movement itself seeks to protect ecosystems and their life forms through the recognition of such rights. Join us to learn about the latest legal battles in the U.S. from this panel of environmental and tribal attorneys leading the way in the tribal courts and beyond.
All are welcome. For further information on pricing and registration, please visit here.
Registration is required. Register here.
Attend in-person or virtually.
Saturday, May 14: 5:45 PM Eastern, 2:45 PM Pacific.
Rights of Nature Workshop: Practical Grassroots Campaign Strategy
Workshop: Practical Grassroots Campaign Strategy for the Rights of Nature
CDER Executive Director Mari Margil to lead a workshop at Univ. of British Columbia, Allard School of Law
On Friday, May 6, 2022, Mari Margil will be in Vancouver, Canada, to lead an in-person rights of nature training workshop in partnership with the Centre for Law and the Environment (CLE) and the Sustainability Hub at the University of British Columbia, on the traditional ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nation.
The workshop is the capstone of a series of webinars on legal recognition for non-human relatives hosted by the CLE, featuring a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous speakers. The workshop will provide a full day of hands-on training in grassroots campaign strategy for participants who want to take action to advance legal recognition for non-human relations in their own communities.
Participants will receive training materials they can take home. They will explore past successes and failures, campaign goals and tactics, legal options for recognizing non-human relations, interactions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and other issues. They will also have the opportunity to brainstorm and receive feedback on their own efforts to enact or strengthen laws to respect and protect non-human relations.
Registration is open to anyone with an interest in the subject. Spaces are limited. Cost is CAD$100 for private sector participants, PWYC for everyone else. A small number of travel subsidies are available for Indigenous and civil society participants.
The workshop will be preceded the day before (May 5) with some special, optional, outdoor activities organized by the UBC Sustainability Hub to explore Indigenous ways of knowing and relating to nature. This side event is free of charge and will require separate registration.