Statement for UN in Harmony with Nature 3 May 2015 A stand for Rights of Nature; It is urgent to establish a different structure of law, which acknowledges Nature as a living being, including Nature in the legal system as a rights bearing entity. A legal system that supports an economic model that works in harmony with nature. Rights of nature is the only viable solution for a sustainable future for all of life. Today, Nature is treated as property under current law. Nature has no standing and therefore, cannot be represented in a court of law. However, Nature is a living being, in all its forms, with the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles and therefore, we must stop considering Nature as property – a resource to be consumed. An essential step to achieve Rights of Nature is to apply Earth Jurisprudence or Earth Law, which gives natural communities standing in the court of law and sees and treats Nature as fundamental, rights bearing entity, with intrinsic rights to exist and flourish, irrespective of its use and value to humans. Earth Jurisprudence is already in place in a number of countries recognizing the inherent rights of Nature to exist, thrive and evolve. Earth Jurisprudence is also grounded in the recognition that humankind and Nature share a fundamental, non-anthropocentric relationship given our shared existence on this planet. Since 2006, a number of countries have adopted national or local legislation on the basis of such principles: Ecuador, Bolivia, India, Mexico, New Zealand and the USA. Hence, a legal system based on recognizing that Nature, in all aspects, have inherent rights to health, prosperity and evolution, is gradually becoming the norm. For a list of countries and detailed information please see: http://www.harmonywithnatureun.org/rightsofnature.html We, civil society organizations worldwide have voiced the need for humankind to recognize the fundamental rights of the natural world and have called on the Governments and peoples of the world to adopt and implement a “Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth”. We have modeled such Declaration on the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. Among the key reasons are: Environmental legislation has ignored the interconnection of water, air, land and wildlife. Present single-stressor laws missed the fact that humans could transform the Earth System on a global scale, through air pollution, ocean acidification, deforestation and water contamination. Human pressure on the Earth System has reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded. To continue to live and operate safely, humanity has to stay away from critical “hard-wired” thresholds in the Earth’s environment and respect the nature of the planet’s climatic, geophysical, atmospheric and ecological processes; Human wellbeing and prosperity can no longer be at the Earth’s expense, but instead must serve the Earth. Humankind should stop abusing and treating Nature as a commodity in the same way that people were treated throughout history. The adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” was a landmark to end such abuses. Today, in order to stop the abuse of Nature, we need the same landmark declaration for Rights of Nature. With kind regards, Doris Ragettli, founder of , www.Rights of Mother Earth http://www.rightsofmotherearth.com/