Europe Earth Law Map
This map highlights initiatives which are reviving and practising Earth Jurisprudence/Earth Law, including organisations and alliances, legal precedents and community governance systems. This is an evolving map so please do share additional initiatives to: info@gaianet.org.
The World Future Council aims to be 'an ethical voice for the needs and rights of future life.'
They 'envision a sustainable, just and peaceful future, where the dignity and rights of every living being and the connectedness of human beings to all life are universally respected.'
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Polly Higgins, barrister and activist, is calling for the United Nations to recognise mass destruction of ecosystems as 'Ecocide' and a 5th crime against peace.
See Earth Law Precedents for more information.
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Peter Roderick, a public interest lawyer in the UK, has proposed a declaration which would recognise and respect the necessary Earth-system processes which sustain all life, and promote responsibility for safeguarding these processes from serious or irreversible damage.
For more information see Earth Law Precedents.
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In 2007 Hungary appointed a Parliamentary Commission for Future Generations to uphold the peoples' Constitutional right to a healthy environment.
For more information see Earth Law Precedents.
Small island community in Donegal are negotiating with the Irish Government for recognition of their traditional fishing livelihoods and culture. The communities are also calling for reform of the European Union Common Fisheries Policy to recognise the unique contribution of small island communities.
In 2009, the community invited Gaia and a member from the fishing community in Kalix, Sweden to...
Ande Somby, an indigenous Sami, is reviving Sami traditions based on Earth Law principles, and the 'yoik' - the traditional song of the Swedish Sami. Ande has also been developing an Earth Law syllabus in the University of Tromso.
There is growing support for the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth and a letter writing campaign in Romania calling for respect of Nature.
Watch this space for more information.
The Resilience Alliance is an interdisciplinary research organization collaborating to explore the dynamics of social-ecological systems, as a foundation for sustainable development policy and practice.
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Traditional fishing communities in Kalix near the Baltic Sea are committed to revive their traditional Earth-centred customs and practices, and are negotiating with the Swedish Government to secure recognition of their right to community governance. The Kalix community has used eco-mapping and other Community Ecological Governance methodologies to strengthen their ecological governance systems.
The Stockholm Resilience Centre is an international centre that promotes transdisciplinary research for governance of social-ecological systems, with a focus on resilience - the ability to deal with change and continue to develop.
In 2010, the Stockholm Resilience Centre held a workshop on Law for Socio-Ecological Resilience Conference to assess and discuss the impact of law on environmental...
There is growing support for the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth and a letter writing campaign in Switzerland calling for respect of rights of Nature.
Watch this space for more information.
Global Alliance for Rights of Nature
Rights of Nature letter writing campaign.
The Alliance for Future Generations is a group of organisations and individuals in the UK which formed to ensure that long-termism and the needs of future generations are brought into the heart of UK democracy and policy processes, in order to safeguard the Earth and secure intergenerational justice. The Alliance is supporting initiatives such as the Hungarian Ombudsman for Future Generations,...
CONVERGE is an Interdisciplinary research project exploring the concept of equity in the light of biological planetary limits. CONVERGE has co-hosted a seminar on intergenerational equity with the UK Alliance for Future Generations.
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The Environmental Law Foundation supports the fundamental and urgent requirement that everyone, our children, grandchildren and all future generations should live without harm to other living things or damage to the ecological balance of the planet.
Gaia has been encouraging the development of Earth Jurisprudence or Earth Law since Thomas Berry first proposed the idea in 1999. Learn more about Gaia's work for Earth Law.
The Hamilton Group enables businesses, organisations and communitites to evolve and embed the culture and structures needed to contribute to and thrive in a sustainable and integrated world. The Hamilton Group organised the first mock trial to test Polly Higgins' proposal for a Crime of Ecocide in the UK Supreme Court.
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The Permaculture Association is a national charity that supports people to learn about and engage with Permaculture, which works with Nature to make a better world for all.
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Schumacher College provides transformative learning for sustainability to face the current ecological, economic and social challenges. Schumacher College and Gaia Foundation have been collaborating since 2008 to deliver courses on Earth Jurisprudence and Community Resilience.
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The Schumacher Institute promotes 'systems thinking for sustainability' and honours the work of E.F. Schumacher, an economist and author of the book Small is Beautiful.
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The Scottish Crofters Federation are campaigning for the recognition of traditional crofters and their communities as indigenous peoples with rights to govern their land, under the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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The Transition Town Network supports community-led responses to climate change. The Transition Town Network is now an international movement building the resilience of communities and ecosystems.
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UKELA is a network of lawyers and non-lawyers from the private, public and voluntary sectors working to improve awareness of environmental law, and make the law work for a better environment. Since 2005, UKELA have organised annual Wild Law workshops in England and Scotland, in collaboration with Gaia. UKELA have established a Wild Law special interest group and Wild Law Education group which...
Wild Law UK is a group of lawyers, academics, students, activists and others dedicated to securing Rights of Nature in law, primarily in the UK. Wild Law UK is a member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and supports the campaign to endorse and implement the Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth.
Gaia is a member of Wild Law UK.
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Contact: wildlawuk@gmail.com
