At COP29 in Baku, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) and its allies unveiled a white paper titled “The Financialization of Nature: A False Solution to Climate Change,” authored by Maude Barlow, during a press conference hosted by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. This document outlines the profound dangers posed by commodifying Nature and advocates for an alternative grounded in the Rights of Nature (RON) framework.
The white paper critiques the Financialization of Nature (FON), a model that treats Nature as a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded, prioritizing profit over ecological integrity. Its findings highlight:
- Exploitation of Nature: Financial mechanisms perpetuate the colonial mindset of extracting profit from Nature rather than recognizing its intrinsic value.
- Market Failures: Tools like carbon trading and biodiversity credits have repeatedly failed to address ecological crises and instead reinforce systems of inequality.
- Loss of Local Control: By transferring responsibility for conservation from communities and governments to capital markets, FON undermines democratic governance and community oversight.
Rights of Nature: A Vision for Justice and Sustainability
The white paper positions the Rights of Nature as a transformative alternative to FON. RON recognizes Nature as a living, rights-bearing entity rather than property for human exploitation. This perspective, rooted in Indigenous teachings, demands legal and cultural shifts that prioritize:
- Protecting Biodiversity: Establishing legal frameworks to safeguard ecosystems from commodification.
- Empowering Communities: Returning stewardship to Indigenous Peoples and local guardians who have protected Nature for generations.
- Reclaiming the Commons: Rejecting privatization and ensuring ecosystems remain collective resources for all life forms.
Press Conference Highlights
The press conference, titled “Rights of Nature: A Systemic Solution to the Climate Crisis,” and held as part of COP29, highlighted the transformative potential of the Rights of Nature movement in addressing the biodiversity and climate crises while uplifting Indigenous and human rights.
Moderated by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of WECAN, the event featured influential speakers, including:
- Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador, WECAN Board Member, and Chair of GARN’s Indigenous Council.
- Nnimmo Bassey, Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Nigeria.
- Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Turtle Island/USA.
- Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of WECAN, USA.
These speakers emphasized the Rights of Nature as a framework that challenges exploitative systems, offering a pathway to preserve biodiversity and achieve climate justice. As Casey Camp-Horinek, Chairwoman of GARN’s Indigenous Council, stated:
“Only humans have broken the Natural Laws. Only humans do not align with the oneness, the interconnectedness, of the world. Only humans would have the audacity to assign ‘financial value’, in their colonial thought process ways, to the Sources of Life and the living beings that are our relatives. We do not own anything that is called Nature, we are Nature, and to participate in the commodification and financialization of our Relatives is an affront to the Natural Laws and quite simply wrong.”
📺 Watch the full recording of the press conference here: https://tinyurl.com/5acf24ak
With mounting global recognition of the need for radical conservation measures, COP29 serves as a pivotal moment to challenge false solutions like FON. While the private sector seeks to capitalize on ecological restoration, GARN’s white paper calls for bold legal and cultural transformations that prioritize the well-being of Nature and humanity alike. By rejecting this exploitative framework and adopting the Rights of Nature, we honor the sacred interconnection of life and work toward a just, thriving planet.
📄 Read the full white paper here: garn.org/financialization_of_nature/
More about the author: Maude Barlow is a Canadian activist and author who has been deeply involved in the struggle to protect water and the human right to water. She is a founding member and former board chair of the Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works internationally for the human right to water. Barlow chairs the board of Washington-based Food & Water Watch, serves on the Board of Advisors to the Global Alliance on the Rights of Nature, was a founding member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization, and was a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. In 2008/2009, was Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. Maude is the recipient of seventeen honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”)
Thanks to the contributions of: Cormac Cullinan, Natalia Greene, Frederic Hache, Shannon Biggs and David Boyd.
