LATEST PRESS RELEASES FROM ELC

Panama’s Law 287, a national Rights of Nature law that received technical and scientific support from Earth Law Center, The Leatherback Project, and other organizations, is among the 8 winners of this year’s World Future Policy Award. The law, passed in 2022, incorporates Nature’s rights to exist, persist, and regenerate its life cycles; to timely and effective restoration; and to the preservation of its water cycles. The award, chosen out of 41 nominations from 21 countries, positions Panama at the forefront of the Rights of Nature movement. It validates the country's pioneering approach and encourages other nations to follow this path, strengthening a global legal movement that seeks to redefine our relationship with the natural world for future generations. The winning policies for 2025 set new global benchmarks by showing how legal systems can be transformed into future-just frameworks – and thereby contributing to the well-being of all living beings on Earth, as well as future generations.

La Ley 287 de Panamá entre las ganadoras: Las ocho políticas ganadoras de este año establecen nuevos puntos de referencia a nivel mundial al mostrar cómo los sistemas jurídicos pueden transformarse en marcos equitativos para el futuro, contribuyendo así al bienestar de todos los seres vivos de la Tierra y a las Generaciones Futuras.

Panama’s Law 287 on the Rights of Nature has been named one of the 13 finalists for the World Future Policy Award 2025. Through this law, Panama became only the third country in Latin America to legislatively recognize the Rights of Nature and its intrinsic value through Law 287, granting Nature the legal rights to exist, regenerate, and thrive. The World Future Policy Award (WFPA), established in 2009, is the world’s leading prize for policy solutions. Earth Law Center is honored to have supported the development of this transformative law, a testament to Panama’s global leadership and to the growing movement toward a future where humanity and Nature thrive together.

The Rights of Nature and ecocentric law-related motions are heading to the IUCN World Conservation Congress from October 9 to 15, 2025 — a crucial international event held once every four years. After completing the online discussion period, the IUCN Motions Working Group has referred a motion drafted by Earth Law Center, Motion 067: “Living in harmony with rivers through the rights of nature and ecocentric law,” and other ecocentric law-related motions to the Members’ Assembly for live debate and vote during the Congress.

During the 2025 Climate Week NYC, Earth Law Center will host a live reading of the 1,000 year old story “The Animals’ Lawsuit Against Humanity” at the Five Angels Theater. The play, which follows a group of animals who take humans to court for their poor treatment, alludes to the work of Earth Law Center and the broader Rights of Nature movement in ingraining the rights of animals and other natural entities into law.

Clallam County Superior Court yesterday halted logging of 300 acres of legacy forests in and around the Elwha Watershed. Earth Law Center (ELC) supported Legacy Forest Defense Coalition (LFDC) in bringing the emergency motion to stop the logging, which stems from two recent timber sales. The logging company, Murphy, had already started road building and destruction of this unique ecosystem. The judge's order halts all logging activity for 14 days. The court will hold another hearing later in May to further consider whether the WA Department of Natural Resource (DNR) is violating its own policies by logging the last remaining structurally complex and biodiverse lowland temperate rainforests in the state. LFDC has won preliminary court injunctions in several other cases on these grounds. 

In a major win for environmental protection, the final Washington State legislative budget agreement for 2025 includes $250,000 to begin the process to secure protection for the Elwha River Watershed — a vital source of drinking water, critical habitat for salmon and other wildlife, as well as cultural heritage.