On July 29-30, 21 climate justice activists convened in San Francisco for the Rights of Nature Activist Strategy Summit.
Global Exchange convened this strategy summit to bring together environmental and climate justice leaders to deepen our mutual understanding of this emerging framework and explore how it might be applied to transform and enhance our current work at the local, national and international levels all along the CJ movement.
GJEP Executive Director Anne Petermann participated in the strategy meeting and presented on possible ways to use the “Rights of Mother Earth” as a tool for advancing justice and opposing false and market-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises. While there are a lot of divergent opinions on the best ways to utilize this tool, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, has been using it to marked success in stopping fracking in Pennsylvania. CELDF assisted the Congress of Ecuador in creating their new constitution, which recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples and Nature, and strips corporations of the rights of personhood.
