LATEST PRESS RELEASES FROM ELC

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.

Earth Law Center (ELC) proudly congratulates Mrs. Marí Luz Canaquiri Murayari, a Kukama Indigenous leader from Peru, on receiving the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize. She received this global recognition for her landmark achievement in securing legal personhood for the Marañón River, a critical tributary of the Amazon. As President of the Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana (HKK), a federation of Kukama Indigenous women, Canaquiri led the legal battle to recognize the river’s inherent rights, ensuring its protection from industrial threats such as oil drilling and infrastructure projects.

PORT ANGELES, WA ~ On March 22, 2025, World Water Day, the Elwha Legacy Forests Coalition and Earth Law Center invite everyone to gather at Hollywood Beach in Port Angeles, WA at 11:00am to witness a welcoming and opening speakers, and enjoy music performed by Star Nayea, Indigenous Grammy award winning artist.  Special guest speakers include Frances Charles, Chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, who was instrumental in bringing down the two dams that choked the Elwha River for over a century. Until October 2024, the Elwha River dam removal was the largest in US history, now surpassed only by the free flowing Klamath River.