The idea of developing Earth Jurisprudence first emerged through the call made by Thomas Berry for “radical change in our worldview and our behaviour; to be reflected in the nature of our choices, and governed by an awareness of the consequences of all our actions for the rest of the Earth Community.” That planted the seed for this Earth Jurisprudence initiative. >>Read more

People and organisations from many countries have become involved: through conferences and talks with environmental lawyers and policy-makers; experiential trainings to introduce Earth jurisprudence concepts; and pilot projects that enable indigenous and traditional communities to revive Earth-centred practices and customary laws.

In the UK, the Gaia Foundation works with the UK Environmental Law Association, the Environmental Law Foundation and others with an interest in radical change to environmental law. In Africa, the African Biodiversity Network and Enact International are leading the field. In the USA, the Center for Earth Jurisprudence, the Community Environment Legal Defense Fund and others, are promoting the ideas and the practice.

Together, we are working to develop way to apply Earth jurisprudence principles, and to gain recognition in national constitutions and in courts of law of the guiding principles, or Rights of the Earth.

Rights of the Earth

The well-being of each member of the Earth community is dependent on the well-being of the Earth itself. Within this context, the following principles, expressed in terms of rights, should be recognised in national constitutions and in courts of law.

“It is our responsibility to make these principles the foundation of the new legal system all over the world. The time has come when human laws and Earth laws must be brought together”. (Thomas Berry, Rights of the Earth, 2002)

  1. The natural world on the planet Earth has rights, which come with existence. These rights come from the same source from which humans receive their rights, from the universe that brought them into being.
  2. Every component of the Earth community has three rights: the right to be, the right to habitat, and the right to fulfil its role in the ever-renewing processes of the Earth community.
  3. All rights are specific and limited. Rivers have river rights. Birds have bird rights. Insects have insect rights. Humans have human rights. Difference in rights is qualitative, not quantitative. The rights of an insect would be of no value to a tree or a fish.
  4. Human rights do not cancel out the rights of other modes of being to exist in their natural state. Human property rights are not absolute. Property rights are simply a special relationship between a particular human ‘owner’ and a particular piece of ‘property’ so that both might fulfil their rules in the great community of existence.
  5. Since species exist only in the form of individuals, rights refer to individuals and to those natural groupings of individuals into flocks, herds, packs, not simply in a general way to species.
  6. These rights are based on the intrinsic relations that the various components of Earth have to each other. The planet Earth is a single community whose members are bound together with interdependent relationships. No living being nourishes itself. Each component of the Earth community is dependent on every other member of the community for the nourishment and assistance it needs for its own survival. This mutual nourishment, which includes predator-prey relationships, is integral with the role that each component of the Earth has within the comprehensive community of existence.

A number of other documents have been produced with ‘guiding principles’ for those working on Earth Jurisprudence. These include the Airlie Principles (2001) and the Botswana Principles (2004).