Gaia Foundation news

There have been several publications over the past year including:

Abridged version of UKELA-Gaia Wild Law Report by Ian and Begonia (and translation into Spanish).  Requests for citing the Report include: Ecuador’s Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Ecuador for its upcoming book which will assess environmental regulation and policy and other issues such as defining the concept of Nature, and bioprospection in Ecuador.  The WL Report was highly commended by the Ministry which is responsible for adaptating Ecuador’s legal system to the new Constitution 2008, which is the first Constitution to formally recognize the rights of Nature in law, and engaging with academia for law reform.  The Centre for Earth Jurisprudence in the U.S. has also requested permission to cite the Report in their upcoming monograph publication – An Introduction to Earth Jurisprudence: Guiding Principles and Wild Law Possibilities – due this summer.  UKELA are exploring next steps for the Report.

Consolidation of key EJ principles by Gaia – Carine and Ian – for the Schumacher College EJ Retreat September 2009 – and subsequent Spanish translation by the Bolivian Embassy for the Mother Earth Conference.

Article on Wild Law by Peter Burdon in Alternative Law Journal in Australia:

• http://www.altlj.org/index.php?option=Articles&task=viewarticle&artid=72
• http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1636564

By Peter Burdon (Australia):

• Thomas Berry and a New Jurisprudence – Worldviews: Global religions, culture & Ecology
• Thomas Berry & Natural Law – Barry University E-Journal on Thomas Berry: Continuing the Great Work
• Article on EJ and its relationship with other legal theories for the Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy.

Ongoing

Wild Law newsletter – compiled regularly by Mel with updates on recent and upcoming events and other news. It is well read and lead to an additional 10 people booking to go to the WL Copenhagen talk in January.

Groundswell newsletter by Centre for Earth Jurisprudence, U.S.http://earthjuris.org/publications/groundswell/

Gaia’s CEG newsletter (see doc attached)

UKELA’s E-law

Forthcoming

Continuing the Great Work: A Tribute to Thomas Berry’s Contribution to Earth Jurisprudence e-symposium (coordinated by the CEJ in U.S.)

Wild Law book from Australian EJ conference is expected to be published November-December 2010.

Article in the Australian Humanities Review – The Rights of Nature: Reconsidered – Australian Humanities Review by Peter Burdon – due soon.

CEJ’s monograph publication – An Introduction to Earth Jurisprudence: Guiding Principles and Wild Law Possibilities. Due summer 2010 and will be distributed within the U.S.

Ecocide book by Polly is due in September.

BBC Radio 4’s Costing the Earth (in September).  Gaia has been invited to talk about Earth Jurisprudence and climate change for the radio program on law and the environment – how courts and legal framework can influence protection of ecosystems.

Ecuador Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Ecuador book citing UKELA-Gaia WL Report.

EJ Papers presented at the Australian Wild Law Conference will be considered for inclusion in a 2011 special edition of the Southern Cross Law Review on Wild Law.

Research proposals

Wild Landscape legislation –Following suggestions during the WL Scotland weekend, a research report will explore the need for new legislation to protect wilderness areas.  The Report will establish Wild Landscape Principles and explore the effectiveness of existing legislation in embedding these principles in UK/EU law.  If not then the Report will recommend the “best” method (taking into account e.g. achieving the principles, time, complexity) leading to a legal instrument either at EU or national level.  Factors to be taken into account include whether existing legislation, e.g. EU Landscape Directive, already addresses Wild Landscape Principles, whether EU or national law is more appropriate, and potential strategies e.g. petitioning the EU Commission and gathering MP support.  The Report be led and coordinated by UKELA and John Muir Trust with support from the Gaia Foundation and the WL group.  A volunteer has offered to research into the proposal this summer. For more information contact Simon.

Future Generations/Green Ombudsman in the UK – Following a talk by the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations in February 2010, a group of NGOs met to explore how to further long-term protection of ecosystems and future generations in law and policy.  The group has recommended a research paper to explore existing and potential mechanisms and processes such as a Green/ Future Generations Ombudsman in the UK, and whether the absence of a Constitutional right to a healthy environment poses a barrier.  The democratic accountability and comparative experiences internationally will be taken into account.  WWF and Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development will supervise the 3 month project with the Steering Group (UKELA, Gaia and National Trust).  This provides an opportunity for EJ ideas to feed into policy making e.g. a guardian/advocate for future generations, which includes both Nature and humans, rights to a healthy environment which depends on upholding duties to restore/maintain healthy ecosystems.

Climate 9’s ‘Taking on Goliath: How ordinary people can challenge the legal system to bring about positive social and ecological justice’. Following their recent defence trial for direct action to stop emissions from aviation, Climate 9 (see notes on precedents below) are inviting Gaia and other organisations to co-develop a community handbook to serve as a practical guide and mobilizing tool for communities challenging the law and building resilience to climate change.  Themes will include direct action, legal system and Earth Jurisprudence, community resilience and strategies for adapting to and mitigating climate change, human rights/civil liberties and police powers. More information coming soon.

PhD theses on EJ by Peter Burdon (May 2011), EJ and biodiversity in Ethiopia (Mellesse Damtie), community practices in indigenous Scottish Highlands (Iain McKinnon).  There are several students writing Master dissertations on EJ and WL at Brighton, Kent and UCL universities. Also at the CEJ in the U.S. For student papers see: http://earthjuris.org/publications/ej-student-series/

Social networking sites e.g.

Wild Frontiers – http://wildfrontiers.ning.com(Online community forum set up by Cormac Cullinan)

Trees Have Rights Too –http://www.treeshaverightstoo.com/ (Global social movement for a Universal Declaration on Planetary Rights)

Wild Law – http://wildlaw-pp.blogspot.com

Pensive Prognosticator (Steve Perry) –http://pensiveprognosticator.blogspot.com/

The Lazy Environmentalist (Polly Higgins) –http://thelazyenvironmentalist.blogspot.com/

Wise women –http://www.wisewomen.me.uk/WISE_WOMEN.html