INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS OF NATURE TRIBUNAL A unique, citizen-created initiative to testify publicly about the destruction of the Earth and propose a systemic alternative to environmental protection and current environmental laws.
The International Rights of Nature Tribunal was launched by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) in 2014. The first session of the Tribunal, presided over by Dr. Vandana Shiva, was convened in Quito, Ecuador in January 2014 during the Global Rights of Nature Summit. The second session held in Lima, Peru in December 2014 during the UNFCCC-COP20 climate discussions, and was presided over by Alberto Acosta. This is the third such Tribunal, and is being held concurrent with the COP21 climate talks in Paris. The Tribunal is a unique, citizen-created initiative. It gives people from all around the world the opportunity to testify publicly as to the destruction of the Earth, destruction that governments and corporations not only allow, but in some cases encourage. The Tribunal provides a systemic alternative to environmental protection, acknowledging that ecosystems have the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate their vital cycles, with legal standing in a court of law. The Tribunal has a strong focus on enabling Indigenous Peoples to share their unique concerns and solutions about land, water, air and culture with the global community. The Tribunal features internationally renowned lawyers and leaders for planetary justice, who will hear emblematic cases addressing issues such as climate change and false solutions, GMOs, fracking, extractive industries such as mining, and other violations of nature’s rights. The Tribunals formulate judgments and recommendations for the Earth’s protection and restoration based on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth and existing nature’s rights laws. Among other things, the Declaration binds us to respect the integrity of the vital ecological processes of the Earth. Accordingly, the Declaration also helps advance proposed amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to recognize the crime of Ecocide. The International Tribunal of the Rights of Nature is part of an effort to promote a change of consciousness and highlight the need to expand the international legal framework, national laws and courts to ensure the safety of planet by preserving biodiversity and respecting ecosystem dynamics. The third International Rights of Nature Tribunal will be held on 4 and 5 December 2015 concurrently with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 21) in Paris, France. This tribunal is hosted by the Global Alliance of the Rights of Nature in partnership with End Ecocide on Earth; NatureRights & Attac France.CLIMATE CRIMES AGAINST NATURE • FINANCIALIZATION OF NATURE AGRO-FOOD INDUSTRY/GMOS • MEGA-DAMS IN THE AMAZON • FRACKING DEFENDERS OF MOTHER EARTH • OIL EXPLOITATION ECOCIDES
Registration details: www.maisondesmetallos.org/2015/07/22/tribunal-international-des-droits-de-la-nature More information: (EN) http://www.therightsofnature.org/rights-of-nature-tribunal-paris – tribunal@therightsofnature.org (FR) http://www.naturerights.com/blog/?p=1126 – samanta@naturerights.com
INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS OF NATURE TRIBUNAL – PROGRAM MAISON DES METALLOS – FRIDAY 4 DEC. & SATURDAY 5 DEC. / 9H00-18H00 The Tribunal is hosted by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN), who holds the Secretariat and formal procedures for ongoing International Rights of Nature Tribunals. In Paris, the GARN has established a partnership with End Ecocide on Earth for some cases of Ecocides, and with NatureRights and Attac France. The cases will be presented by presenters, experts, witnesses and victims. JUDGES
President – Cormac Cullinan (Author Wild Law, Cullinan Associates Inc., EnAct International – South Africa) Tom Goldtooth (Indigenous Environmental Network, Turtle Island – USA) Alberto Acosta (Economist and former president of the Constituent Assembly from Ecuador) Osprey Orielle Lake (Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network – USA) Terisa Turner (professor, former UN Energy Specialist – Canada) Felicio Pontes (Federal Prosecutor – Brazil) Damien Short (Dir. Human Rights Consorcium University of London – UK) Attosa Soltani (Amazon Watch founder – USA) Nnimmo Bassey (Health of Mother Earth Foundation / Oilwatch – Nigeria) Ruth Nyambura (Political ecologist, African Ecofeminists Collective – Kenya) Christophe Bonneuil (Historian of Sciences, CNRS, Attac – France) Philippe Desbrosses (Doctor in Environmental Sciences, Farmer, Intelligence Verte – France) – Honorary Judge on December 4th Dominique Bourg (University of Lausanne, Philosopher, author – Switzerland) – Honorary Judge on December 5th
PROSECUTORS FOR THE EARTH: Ramiro Ávila (University Simón Bolivar – Ecuador); Linda Sheehan (Earth Law Center – USA)
SECRETARIAT: Natalia Greene (GARN – Ecuador)
SECRETARIAT ADVISORS:
Edgardo Lander (Universidad Central de Venezuela, Transnational Institute – Venezuela), Joan Martínez Alier (Prof. ICTA Autonomous University of Barcelona – Spain), Enrique Viale (Asociación Argentina de Abogados Ambientalistas – Argentina), Thomas Coutrot (Attac France), Fernando Pino Solanas (Senator, Argentina)
FRIDAY 4 DEC. 9H00-18H
9H00 – INDIGENOUS OPENING CEREMONY Patricia Gualingua (Sarayeku) / Ta’kaiya Blaney (Tla’Amin First Nation, Canada) / Cassey Camp Horinek (Ponca Oklahoma, USA)
9H20 – INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS OF NATURE TRIBUNAL
Introduction: Natalia Greene (GARN), Samanta Novella (NatureRights) Rights of Nature RON Assessment Esperanza Martinez (Acción Ecologica) Opening from Tribunal’s President Cormac Cullinan Opening from Prosecutors for the Earth Ramiro Ávila, Linda Sheehan
9H40 – CLIMATE CRIMES AGAINST NATURE Presenter Pablo Solón (Fundacion Solon, Focus on the Global South) (Judges Osprey Orielle Lake & Nnimmo Bassey) Fossil Fuels Expert Maxime Combes (Attac France), Witness/Victim Desmond D’sa (South Africa)
Deforestation Miguel Lovera (Global Forest Coalition, Paraguay), David Kureeba (Global Forest Coalition, Uganda) Water & Climate Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), Michal Kravcik (Slovakia) Market Mechanisms, Climate Smart Agriculture, Land Use Badrul Alam (LVC & President, Bangladesh Krishok Federation) and Maria Isabel Carrillo (CONAVIGUA) 11h30 – Coffee Break Bio-Energy Carbon Capture Storage Pat Mooney (ETC Group) Geoengineering Silvia Ribeiro (ETC Group Mexico) Godwin Ojo (Nigeria, FoE) Nuclear Roland Desbordes (CRIIRAD), Alexei Nesterenko (Belarus) 12h40 – Lunch 13H45 – FINANCIALIZATION OF NATURE Presenter Ivonne Yanez (Acción Ecológica, Ecuador) (Judge Tom Goldtooth) Compensation mechanisms linked to biodiversity conservation Genevieve Azam (Attac France), Tamra Gilberston (Carbon Trade Watch), Gloria Ushigua (Sápara, Ecuador) EU biodiversity offsets, WRM Report on REDD+, economic valuation of nature Jutta Kill (biologist, Germany), Sengwer Indigenous representative (Kenya, Africa) 15H00 – AGRO-FOOD INDUSTRY / GMOS Presenter: Vandana Shiva (Navdanya) (Judge: Philippe Desbrosses) Marie-Monique Robin (Journalist), Ronnie Cummins (Organic Consumers Association (OCA)), José Bové (Via Campesina, Green European Deputee), Andre Leu (IFOAM) 16h15 – Break 16H30 – DEFENDERS OF MOTHER EARTH (Judges: Ruth Nyambura and Atossa Soltani) Criminalization of defenders of Mother Earth in Ecuador Blanca Chancoso (Kichwa), Belén Páez (Pachamama Foundation), Manari Ushigua (Sápara leader), Braulio Gutierrez (Yasunidos) Fossil fuels and chemical contamination Yudith Nieto, Juan and Byron Parras (USA-Houston TX, T.E.J.A.S) 17H10 PROSECUTORS FOR THE EARTH STATEMENTS 17H15 – JUDGES’ STATEMENTS FROM DAY 1 18H00 – CONTRIBUTION OF ADVISOR’S COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE (Fernando Pino Solanas) 18H10 – CLOSURE SAT 5 DEC. 2015 – 9H-18H00 09H15 – HYDRAULIC FRACKING Presenter Shannon Biggs (Movement Rights – USA) (Judge: Damien Short) Enrique Viales (Argentina), Geert de Cock (Food and Water – Europe), Kandi Mosset (Fort Berthold, ND, USA), Khaoula Chikhaoui (Tunisia) 10H30 – MEGA DAMS IN THE AMAZON – BELO MONTE & TAPAJOS Presenter Gert-Peter Bruch (Planète Amazone, France) (Judge: Felicio Pontes) Christian Poirier (Amazon Watch), Cacique Raoni Kayapo, Antonia Mello (Xingu Vivo), Munduruku and Yawalapiti representatives Tapajós 11H30 – Coffee Break 11H45 – PRESENTATION OF NEW CASES TO THE INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS OF NATURE TRIBUNAL SECRETARIAT Andrea Padilla (AnimaNaturalis, Corralejas Colombia); Alexandra Postelnicu (Rosia Montana Mines, Romania); Lisa Mead, Earth Laws Alliance (Depletion of Marine Life); Godwin Ojo, (Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Niger Delta Shell), Eriel Deranger, Athabascan Chippewyan (Oil Sands Canada) (Judges: Christophe Bonneuil and Terisa Turner). 13h00 – Lunch 14H00 – ECOCIDE CRIME AT THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT Presenter Valerie Cabanes (EEE) – Recognizing ecocide in international criminal law; reopening of cases related to oil exploitation as ecocides. 14H15 – OIL EXPLOITATION ECOCIDES – ECUADOR Presenter Carlos Larrea (Andina Simón Bolivar University) (Judges: Dominique Bourg and Alberto Acosta) Yasuní-ITT Case Esperanza Martinez (Acción Ecologica, Oilwatch – Keep Oil Underground – Annex 0), Antonella Calle (Yasunidos), Patricia Gualinga (Sarayaku) Texaco/Chevron Ecocides Case Pablo Fajardo (Lawyer, UDAPT – Union de afectados por Texaco), Humberto Piaguaje (UDAPT – Union de afectados por Texaco) 15H30 – PRESENTATION OF DECISIONS ON PREVIOUS CASES: Conclusion statements on Yasuní-ITT (Ecuador) Alberto Acosta, Great Barrier Reef (Australia) Tantoo Cardinal 15h45 – Coffee Break 16H15 PROSECUTORS FOR THE EARTH STATEMENTS 16H30 – JUDGES STATEMENTS FROM DAY 2 17H20 – PRESIDENT’S FINAL STATEMENTS 17H50 – CLOSURE : TA’KAIYA BLANEY
