Wild Law UK submission to the Commission on a Bill of Rights - 30 September 2012. View our response here.
Wild Law UK responds to Habitats and Wild Birds Directives Implementation Review - 6 February 2012. View our response here.
Wild Law UK responds to Ministry of Justice consultation Cost Protection for Litigants in Environmental Judicial Review Claims-Outline proposals for a cost capping scheme for cases which fall within the Aarhus Convention - 18 January 2012. View our response here.
Wild Law UK submits a paper to the Commission on a Bill of Rights - 11 November 2011. View our response here.
Wild Law UK responds to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation - 31 October 2011. View our response here.
Wild Law UK submits a paper to the UN for input into the zero draft for the Rio +20 conference (Earth Summit) - 27 October 2011. We call for the Universal Declaration on the Rights of other Earth to be adopted and for the Crime of Ecocide to be recognised as the 5th Crime Against Peace. View our submission in full here.
Wild Law UK responds to the Environmental Audit Committee's call for evidence on the preparedness of the UK Government for the Rio +20 conference in June 2012 (the Earth Summit) - September 2011. View our response here or open in Word.
Wild Law UK responds to the Natural Resources Forum's invitation to contribute to viewpoints for the Earth Summit in Rio next June 2012
- 15 July 2011:
What do think should be the two or three highest priority political outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled for Rio de Janeiro in June 2012? Rio +20 presents an opportunity to reorient governance systems, including law, so that they support, rather than undermine, the long-term health and integrity of the Earth. Wild Law UK includes more than 100 UK-based legal professionals from the private, public and voluntary sectors and non-lawyers from all walks of life.
WL UK calls for:
1) Re-framing ‘Good Governance’ to embody Earth Centred Governance principles:
- Earth Centred Governance
- Recognises intrinsic value of Nature – rather than as a "resource" for the sole benefit of humanity.
- Respects rights of Nature to exist, to habitat and fulfil their role in the community of life.
- Recognises humans are one of many species in the amazingly diverse Earth community.
- Reflects scientific understanding of how ecosystems operate e.g. Earth’s limits.
- Mutually Enhancing Relationship
- Seeks to rebalance human relationship with the Earth system, from which human wellbeing derives, for the well being of the whole Earth Community.
- Community Ecological Governance
- Respects the rights of all beings of the Earth Community to participate in decision-making which affects life.
2) Adoption of the Universal Declaration for Rights of Mother Earth by the United Nations and implemented at the national level, building on precedents such as the Ecuadorian Constitution and Bolivia’s Law of Mother Earth.
3) Support and expand the global movement for the rights of Nature
led by communities, organisations, lawyers, policy makers, academics and governments.
[1] www.wildlawuk.org[2] See website of Global Alliance for Rights of Nature for text: http://therightsofnature.org/universal-declaration/
Wild Law UK responds to the Red Tape Challenge - 10 July 2011
Wild Law UK is a group of lawyers, academics, students, activists and others dedicated to securing legal rights for Nature. We believe that Nature has inherent value and that human beings must learn to live in harmony with Nature. We are deeply concerned that the message the Government is sending out by referring to the Climate Change Act and all the other important laws that protect Nature as ‘red tape’ is that they are unnecessary bureaucracy. This is completely inappropriate and deeply misguided. Environmental protections are absolutely fundamental and the Government must not act to weaken the structures already in place.
We need better, more effective laws to protect Nature (of which human beings are a fundamental part – not separate and superior). Law must evolve to recognise the inherent value of Nature rather than simply treating Nature as a ‘resource’. Nature has rights too which ought to be acknowledged in our legal system.
Rights for Nature Call in response to Natural Environment White Paper - 7 June 2011
“Calamitous market reductionism! Instead of acknowledging nature’s inalienable rights, the White Paper helps turn nature into a tradeable asset.“ This is how newly formed group ‘Wild Law UK’ reacted to the Government’s Natural Environment White Paper which was published earlier today (Tuesday June 7th).
Wild Law UK aims to encourage a shift from a human to an eco-centric perspective in how we think about environmental law and governance, in order to improve the protection of our shared environment. The group is made up of more than 100 UK-based legal professionals with various backgrounds in the private and public sectors as well as in academia. It aims to comment on and influence Government thinking and legislation in regard to our relationship with our environment.
Wild Law UK's main criticism of the White Paper is that it continues to treat the environment as a resource to be exploited for the benefit of economic growth, and that it values the environment primarily for the ‘ecosystem services’ it provides to the economy. It is a constantly recurring theme of the White Paper that the natural environment needs to be properly defined, managed and protected ‘like any financial asset’, that is to the extent that protecting it provides monetary benefits. Instead of taking forward its reductionist strategy of commodifying nature, of turning it into a tradeable asset, the Government ought to have recognised that humans are part of their environment and do not stand above it. Wild Law UK is calling on the Government to acknowledge that nature has inalienable rights – on a par with human rights –, and that by safeguarding these rights, humans protect their own long term future on a finite planet. The group does not believe that the market approach taken in the paper can achieve this protection and will lead to environmental and human disaster.
Wild Law UK believes that even on its own terms the White Paper leaves a lot to be desired. What unequivocally pro-environment proposals the White Paper makes, are much too cautious. It seems worth noting that much of what the Government is proposing has across Europe been part and parcel of urban development planning for more than 30 years. In the Group’s opinion this is particularly true for:
· The proposed voluntary establishment of local Nature Improvement Areas for restoring nature;
· The proposed voluntary approach to biodiversity offsetting which the Government intends to test in a number of pilot areas;
· The proposed Green Area Designation which will be expressly designed so as not to undermine economic development.
Wild Law UK also has strong concerns about the view expressed in the White Paper that environmental regulation is just so much superfluous ‘red tape’, and the Government’s commitment to press for EU environmental law to be evidence- and science-based; to be designed with regulatory and administrative burdens and compliance costs weighed against the benefits; and to provide flexibility. This commitment flies in the face of the precautionary principle as mandated by the EU Treaty.
Wild Law UK is part of the Global Alliance for the Rights for Nature, which is calling on governments to formally recognise enforceable rights for nature at next year’s ‘Rio + 20’ Earth Summit on Sustainable Development.
Wild Law UK aims to encourage a shift from a human to an eco-centric perspective in how we think about environmental law and governance, in order to improve the protection of our shared environment. The group is made up of more than 100 UK-based legal professionals with various backgrounds in the private and public sectors as well as in academia. It aims to comment on and influence Government thinking and legislation in regard to our relationship with our environment.
Wild Law UK's main criticism of the White Paper is that it continues to treat the environment as a resource to be exploited for the benefit of economic growth, and that it values the environment primarily for the ‘ecosystem services’ it provides to the economy. It is a constantly recurring theme of the White Paper that the natural environment needs to be properly defined, managed and protected ‘like any financial asset’, that is to the extent that protecting it provides monetary benefits. Instead of taking forward its reductionist strategy of commodifying nature, of turning it into a tradeable asset, the Government ought to have recognised that humans are part of their environment and do not stand above it. Wild Law UK is calling on the Government to acknowledge that nature has inalienable rights – on a par with human rights –, and that by safeguarding these rights, humans protect their own long term future on a finite planet. The group does not believe that the market approach taken in the paper can achieve this protection and will lead to environmental and human disaster.
Wild Law UK believes that even on its own terms the White Paper leaves a lot to be desired. What unequivocally pro-environment proposals the White Paper makes, are much too cautious. It seems worth noting that much of what the Government is proposing has across Europe been part and parcel of urban development planning for more than 30 years. In the Group’s opinion this is particularly true for:
· The proposed voluntary establishment of local Nature Improvement Areas for restoring nature;
· The proposed voluntary approach to biodiversity offsetting which the Government intends to test in a number of pilot areas;
· The proposed Green Area Designation which will be expressly designed so as not to undermine economic development.
Wild Law UK also has strong concerns about the view expressed in the White Paper that environmental regulation is just so much superfluous ‘red tape’, and the Government’s commitment to press for EU environmental law to be evidence- and science-based; to be designed with regulatory and administrative burdens and compliance costs weighed against the benefits; and to provide flexibility. This commitment flies in the face of the precautionary principle as mandated by the EU Treaty.
Wild Law UK is part of the Global Alliance for the Rights for Nature, which is calling on governments to formally recognise enforceable rights for nature at next year’s ‘Rio + 20’ Earth Summit on Sustainable Development.
