Rights of Pachamama: The emergence of an earth jurisprudence in the Americas

Abstract

Earth jurisprudence represents an alternative approach to the law based on the belief that nature has rights. In this view, a river has the right to flow, species have the right to continue to exist in the wild, and ecosystems have the right to adapt and evolve over time. Proponents of Earth jurisprudence argue that, by treating nature as exploitable resources, contemporary legal systems actively promote environmental harms. Recognising rights of nature, they argue, will transform core values and inspire social changes that promote economic development which respects nature's limits. Since 2006, rights of nature have been recognised by some sub-federal public bodies in the United States and by the governments of Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper sets out to answer two questions. First, what explains the legal recognition of rights of nature in Ecuador and Bolivia? Second, what factors impede a wider adoption and implementation of Earth jurisprudence? Amongst the constraints, it will be argued, is that Ecuador and Bolivia continue to pursue an extractivist economic development model, with assertions of national sovereignty over natural resources tending to prevail over Earth jurisprudence and environmental conservation.

Multiple conceptualizations of nature are key to inclusivity and legitimacy in global environmental governance

“…The Bolivian Law of Mother Earth (Law 071; 21 st December 2010; Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia) draws on Andean spiritual traditions seeing Mother Earth (or Pachamama) as a sacred deity, and entitles nature with rights as a collective subject of interest (Pacheco, 2014;Kauffman and Martin, 2016). In addition to defining a set of morals for environmental governance, the Law of Mother Earth aims at preventing "human activities causing the extinction of living populations, the alterations of the cycles and processes that ensure life, or the destruction of livelihoods, including cultural systems that are part of Mother Earth" (Article 8); while people, and public and private legal entities, have the duty to "uphold and respect the rights of Mother Earth" (Article 9) (Humphreys, 2017). Similarly, by granting legal status to the Whanganui River, New Zealand found an innovative way to honour and respect the Maori traditional worldview of nature as "an indivisible and living whole" (Hutchinson, 2014;Strack, 2017).…”

Transitioning to a Progressive Green Economy in the Philippines

“…Another alternative development model to the current form of the dominant global economic system is Latin America’s so-called Pachamama socialism, which presents “an alternative approach to the law based on the belief that nature has rights. In this view, a river has the right to flow, species have the right to continue to exist in the wild, and ecosystems have the right to adapt and evolve over time” (Humphreys, 2017). Pachamama is the name of an indigenous earth goddess, commonly known today as “Mother Earth.” In 2011, Bolivia passed the world’s first laws “granting all nature equal rights to humans.…”

Utilising Principles of Earth Jurisprudence to Prevent Environmental Harm: Applying a Case Study of Unconventional Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas in the United Kingdom

“…While it may seem impossible, then, to rid laws of human influence, there are a few realworld examples which demonstrate that a shift to EJ may be possible. The Constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia, for instance, recognise the rights of Mother Earth or the Pachamama (Humphreys 2017) and New Zealand has given legal personhood to the Whanganui River (Hutchinson 2014). These example indicate that there is the potential to overcome both the political and practical obstacles necessary to create an Earth-centred global society.…”