(Lago Agrio Oil Field, Ecuador.) The International Rights of Nature Tribunal met at Maison des Métallos in Paris on 4th and 5th of December, in conjunction with UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP21) discussions. This citizen-created Tribunal provides people a voice to testify publicly as to the destruction of the Earth — destruction that governments and corporations not only allow, but in some cases encourage.
The Tribunal featured internationally renowned lawyers and leaders for planetary justice, who heard cases addressing issues such as climate change, GMOs, fracking, extractive industries and other sources of nature's rights violations. The Tribunal offered judgments and recommendations for the Earth’s protection and restoration based on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Earth Law Center acted as co-prosecutor at this international event, the third in a series of Rights of Nature Tribunals (following Quito, Ecuador and Lima, Peru in 2014) Read ELCs closing remarks as co-prosecutor, and for more information, see the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature website and the agenda.