The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature is pleased to announce that Maude Barlow has joined the Executive Committee representing North America.
Maude is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is a board member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council.
Maude has been a leader in the Rights of Nature/Mother Earth movement participating in the 2010 People’s Conference on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth, contributing to numerous publications and videos including co-publishing the Rights of Nature, the Case for a Universal Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth. Her Council of Canadians’ team were key organizers of the Blue Pavilion at the Rio+20 Earth Summit.
Maude is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the 2005 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, the 2009 Planet in Focus Eco Hero Award, and the 2011 EarthCare Award, the highest international honour of the Sierra Club (US).
In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly and was a leader in the campaign to have water recognized as a human right by the UN. She is also the author of dozens of reports, as well as 17 books, including her latest, Blue Future: Protecting Water For People And The Planet Forever. Among the four principles presented in Blue Future, Principle Three:Water Has Rights Too makes a strong case for the protection of source water and the need to make our human laws compatible with those of nature. It was released in the US in January.
Maude replaces Mari Margil who has rotated off the Executive Committee. For all of us, a warm thank you to Mari for her leadership, counsel and support on the Executive Committee. Mari and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF.org) provide Rights of Nature Legislative Assistance leadership and counsel in partnership with the Global Alliance.
For a printable news release, visit Maude Barlow joins Global Alliance for Rights of Nature Executive Committee.