Exploring Environmental Law, Activism, and the Rights of Nature

We need ‘wild lawyers’, ‘lawyers for nature’ or ‘earth lawyers’: those committed to enacting and upholding the Rights of Nature through whatever legal avenues and means that are available.

We wanted to share some positive news from the world of Rights of Nature. It’s these moments that remind us why we’re reimagining the law for Nature—ensuring it has the opportunity to thrive and flourish, just as it should.

Six years ago, 193 countries signed the Paris Agreement which aims at limiting the rise in global average temperature well below 2C above pre-industrial level, with an aspirational target of reaching 1.5C.

The Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, the first major announcement of the COP26, commits 137 countries, including Brazil, China and Indonesia, to “halt and reverse” deforestation by 2030.

House of Hackney appoints new Director to represent Nature and the Voice of Future Generations on Board of Directors.

Under advice from Lawyers for Nature, cruelty-free and vegan cosmetics company Faith in Nature appointed a Nature Director to their board.

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.

This is a story about Lawyers for Nature’s work on what was variously known as the Dulwich Oaks or Save the Footbridge Oaks Campaign. I was contacted out of the blue by a member of the campaign who had heard about Lawyers for Nature and our work saving trees.

While the “Blue Zone” at COP26 filled up with delegates to the UNFCCC talks, the streets of Glasgow were flooded by climate activists from all over the world.