Rights of Nature Land Trust

The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights has launched the Rights of Nature Land Trust, a non-profit land conservancy.

The Rights of Nature Land Trust was established to assist landowners to protect their land through Rights of Nature Easements.  

Landowners have typically used “conservation easements” to permanently protect their land from certain kinds of development. 

Rights of Nature Easements build on the ability of conservation easements to protect land from development, while adding a recognition that ecosystems on the land have certain rights that must be protected.  Those rights may include the rights to exist, flourish, regenerate, and be restored.  The landowner can enforce the legal rights recognized by the easement against anyone interfering with those rights.

The Trust works directly with landowners across the United States to develop Rights of Nature Easements.  This includes assisting landowners to amend their deeds (official legal documents that establish ownership of a parcel of land) with an easement, and filing an easement with the appropriate local government.  

The Trust accepts donated land easements which create legal rights of nature, as well as works to purchase land and land easements which contain similar protections.

For assistance in creating a Rights of Nature Easement, or for more information, contact CDER at info@centerforenvironmentalrights.org.