Advancing the Rights of Nature in Northern Ireland, the U.K., and Globally

Location of Talk: Canada Room, Lanyon Building, QUB

Summary of talk: The Rights of Nature represents a fundamental shift in humankind’s relationship with the natural world, in which we recognize that we are part of nature, and that harm done to nature is harm done to ourselves. Beginning in 2006, communities and countries around the globe have begun to protect in law that nature has legal rights, including even the most basic right of nature to exist. The speakers will present on their work on the very first Rights of Nature laws in the world, how the movement has built internationally and is now advancing in Northern Ireland and the U.K., and how the Rights of Nature is needed today, more than ever.

Q&A with speakers will follow the discussion.

Mari Margil Bio: Mari Margil is the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER). She works with civil society; national, state, and local governments; tribal nations; and Indigenous communities in the U.S., Ecuador, Australia, the Philippines, Nepal, and elsewhere, to advance Rights of Nature frameworks. She consulted with Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly, helping to draft the world’s first Rights of Nature constitutional provisions.

Thomas Linzey Bio: Thomas Linzey serves as Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), an organization committed to globally advancing the legal rights of nature and environmental rights. He is the co-founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), and is widely recognized as the founder of the contemporary “community rights” and “rights of nature” movements which have resulted in the adoption of several hundred laws across the United States and around the world. He sits on the Board of Advisors of the New Earth Foundation.

CDER’s work has been featured in publications including the New York Times and The New Yorker. CDER can be found at www.centerforenvironmentalrights.org.

Admission is free and can be reserved online.