“THE RIGHTS OF NATURE — THE NEW, INNOVATIVE FORM OF ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE CONFRONTING THE WORLD WE’VE WROUGHT”

Today, two worlds are colliding on a global scale — our collective fantasy world, where we treat nature as an infinite resource, existing for our use and enjoyment — and the actual world, where humankind has caused overlapping environmental crises, including the collapse of ecosystems, soaring extinction rates and accelerating climate change. Facing this reality requires us to make a fundamental shift in our relationship with nature. This starts with recognizing that humankind is part of nature, and that harm done to nature is harm done to ourselves. Further, it means advancing fundamental systems change — in how we govern ourselves toward nature and in how nature itself is treated under the law. This means transforming nature from a resource to be exploited to being recognized as a living entity with legal rights that we must uphold and enforce through law and governance. The Rights of Nature Movement is leading the way forward.

Biography
Mari Margil works with civil society, governments, as well as tribal nations and Indigenous communities in the U.S., Ecuador, 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 in 2008.

Margil received her master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and is a co-author of “The Bottom Line or Public Health: Tactics Corporations Use to Influence Health and Health Policy, and What We Can Do to Counter Them” (Oxford University Press, 2010), “Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence” (Wakefield Press, 2011) and “Bearing Witness: The Human Rights Case Against Fracking and Climate Change” (Oregon State University Press, 2021). Her writing has also been featured in publications including The Guardian, YES! Magazine, Earth Island Journal, Mongabay, Democracy journal, World Policy Journal and Common Dreams, and her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, The New Yorker and elsewhere.