Gaia Foundation would like to share an exciting opportunity to recognize and embed Earth Jurisprudence/Law principles in an international court for the environment.
Background
There is currently a movement to establish an International Court for the Environment (ICE) which will hold government and others to account for environmental damage. In the meantime the ICE Coalition are proposing a Tribunal to resolve environmental disputes.
For more information see: http://icecoalition.com/
Holistic Law proposal
A lawyer, Mumta Ito, connected with the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland (http://www.findhorn.org/) is proposing a restorative and holistic approach to dispute resolution -rather than the current judgement based/adversarial approach.
Mumta proposes to draw on processes such as restorative circles and systemic constellations, and incorporating Earth Jurisprudence/Law principles. Mumta refers to this integrated approach as ‘holistic law’ where the role of a lawyer is to ‘heal conflict’ rather than perpetuate it.
The proposed restorative/Earth Law arm would initially run parallel to the mainstream tribunal and could be housed at Findhorn. It would offer a way of healing the conflict at its source and taking into account stakeholders whose voices are not recognised or heard in the mainstream legal system – such as Earth and future generations and their indigenous/local community custodians. The long term vision is to integrate Earth Law restorative justice into the tribunal’s main process of dispute resolution.
This is a timely and complementary proposal to transform the current human-centred institutional system into an Earth Law grounded institution.
Next steps
The ICE Coalition have invited Mumta to submit a proposal early 2013 to deepen discussions. Mumta warmly welcomes any reflections and contributions.
Given your work in reviving, advocating and practicing Earth Jurisprudence/Law we would be delighted if you could share your experiences, especially of any Earth Law based institutions/structures and restorative justice processes.
If you are interested in learning more and/or contributing to the draft proposal please do get in touch with Mumta.
Look forward to hearing from you
best wishes
Carine Nadal
Earth Jurisprudence Coordinator and legal researcher
The Gaia Foundation
www.gaiafoundation.org