Exploring Environmental Law, Activism, and the Rights of Nature

Last week, LFN founder Paul Powlesland was called to serve on a jury. For his oath, he decided to swear on what was most sacred to him: nature, via the River Roding, represented in the courtroom by a water sample in a small bottle.

Are you a lawyer concerned about the state of nature and the meta-crisis we face? Are you interested in using the law as a powerful tool to protect and restore nature? Do you want to understand how you can use your skill set to make a difference?

In an interesting recent Rights of Nature development, the municipal council of Linhares, a coastal city in southeastern Brazil's Espirito Santo State, has recognised the waves of the Doce River Mouth (‘as Ondas na Foz do Rio Doce’) as having legal rights.

We’ve been reflecting on our time at the Garden of Tomorrow from House of Hackney. As a neurodiverse bunch, we at Lawyers for Nature need to take time to rest and digest after we participate in incredible events like this one. We leave this glorious 3-day festival with the following.‍

So far, the Green Party is the only party with Rights of Nature laws mentioned in their party manifesto. Our hope is that political candidates from other parties might also begin to support the idea that there is a need to change our whole legal system to restore and benefit Nature. Stopping the destruction of the natural world is vitally important, yet current proposals do not go far enough. Last weekend, on Saturday 22nd June, over 60,000 people marched in London to demand: Restore Nature Now.

The Rights of Nature (RoN) movement in the UK has been newly revitalised over recent years. There was an early flurry of activity around 2005-2010, clustered around the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA), which included some conferences, an excellent research report analysing the extent to which Wild Law already existed around the world, and annual Wild Law weekends (which continue!).

The festival is three days of discussions about converting radical ideas into practical action, around the focus of our relationship with the rest of nature. Presented by House of Hackney, it's a festival of ideas and coming together of passionate advocates for the regeneration of Nature for the quality of life of all future generations.

Paul Powlesland tells the tragic story of Hoad’s Wood, used as a landfill and ignored by authorities, and how it shows we need Rights of Nature and guardianship.

Paul Powlesland, barrister and Rights of Nature campaigner who acted for Sheffield activists, proposes that trees should have Rights of Nature and Guardianship and that Sheffield is a great place to try out this model.