As 2025 comes to a close, we reflect on a year that fundamentally reshaped the global landscape for the Rights of Nature—from Latin America to Europe, North America, the Pacific, and beyond, courts, legislatures, Indigenous nations, and communities advanced an unprecedented wave of legal recognitions for the Rights of Nature.
This year brought historic rulings from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, powerful new national and local laws, and three major sessions of the International Rights of Nature Tribunal. Together, these developments signal a profound shift in global jurisprudence.
As you explore this year’s milestones, we invite you to join us in celebrating the victories that bring us closer to a world where Mother Earth is respected as a rights-bearing community of life.
Celebrating 15 Years of the Rights of Nature with GARN, from dream to global movement
Fifteen years ago, in 2010, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) was born from a shared dream: to transform our legal systems and cultural worldview to recognize that Nature is not an object to exploit, but a living being with inherent rights. Watch the short film.
2025 in Review: Major Rights of Nature Advances Around the World
The movement accelerated across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Serbia, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, France, and more, marking one of the most transformative years to date.
Here are just some of the global highlights:
- Brazil introduced a Constitutional Amendment to recognize Nature as a subject of fundamental rights.
• Paris granted honorary citizenship to the Seine River, symbolically affirming its status as a living ecosystem deserving protection.
• Ecuador held a Local Tribunal on mining, and courts recognized the Irquis River and Lake San Pablo as subjects of rights.
• Aotearoa/New Zealand granted Te Kāhui Tupua (Mount Taranaki and the surrounding landscape) legal personhood.
• The UK saw historic motions across Hampshire, Lewes, Basingstoke and Deane, Southampton, and Test Valley recognizing the rights of rivers.
• Serbia advanced the world’s first national draft law for the Rights of Rivers.
• Switzerland considered constitutional recognition for the Reuss River.
• Colombia recognized the Páramo de Santurbán and passed Law 2533, granting rights to the Aburrá River.
• Peru recognized Lake Titicaca and its tributaries as rights-bearing entities.
• U.S. communities advanced Rights of Nature legislation in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and celebrated the self-ownership of Pyramid Mountain in Colorado.
• Canada saw Indigenous-led advances, including the Alderville First Nation declaring Rice Lake a legal person.
• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued Advisory Opinion OC-32/25, affirming for the first time that Nature itself can hold rights—a legal milestone with hemispheric implications.
For a full overview of 2025’s cases, visit our Rights of Nature timeline.
GARN Highlights of 2025
This year, GARN expanded its global presence through major tribunals, new partnerships, international advocacy, and groundbreaking campaigns to protect Earth’s vital ecosystems.
UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) – Nice, France
At the third UN Ocean Conference, GARN delivered a clear and urgent proposition: the ocean does not only need protection—it needs justice. Together with the Antarctic Rights Initiative, the European Hub, and the Youth Hub, GARN advanced a new vision for ocean governance based on legal rights, care, and kinship. Read more.
Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and Regional Amazonian Processes
GARN continued to deepen engagement with ACTO and regional Amazonian dialogues, supporting Indigenous nations, riverine communities, and civil society organizations working to strengthen the legal recognition and protection of the Amazon biome. More information.
Climate Week 2025 – New York, United States
At Climate Week, GARN convened governments, Indigenous leaders, scientists, youth, and civil society organizations to advance Rights of Nature as a cornerstone for real climate action. Through panels, gatherings, meetings, and public programming, GARN highlighted the necessity of moving beyond technocratic solutions toward ecological jurisprudence grounded in responsibility and kinship. Read more.
COP30 – Belém, Brazil
In Belém, GARN collaborated with Amazonian Peoples, Indigenous federations, civil society networks, and global environmental organizations to support Rights of the Amazon and the broader transformation of climate governance with advocacy inside the UNFCCC process to public events across the city. More information.
Spotlight: Inter-American Court of Human Rights Advisory Opinion (OC-32/25)
One of the most transformative jurisprudential developments of the year came from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which issued Advisory Opinion OC-32/25 affirming, for the first time in its history, that ecosystems can hold intrinsic rights independently of human interests. This landmark interpretation establishes that Nature has the right to exist, flourish, and regenerate; the right to restoration when harmed; and inherent standing in legal processes. More information.
Spotlight: Mari Luz Canaquiri Wins the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize
This year, the global Rights of Nature movement celebrated a powerful victory for Indigenous leadership. Kukama leader Mari Luz Canaquiri was awarded the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize for her tireless defense of the sacred Marañón River in Peru. For decades, Mari Luz and the Kukama women of the Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana Federation have fought oil contamination, defended the river’s rights and spiritual integrity, and challenged extractive industries threatening the heart of the Amazon. Read more.
This year, Cormac Cullinan, GARN founder and Executive Committee member, esteemed judge of the International Rights of Nature Tribunal, and author of Wild Law, was also awarded the 2025 Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions!
Rights of Nature Tribunal: Key Milestones of 2025
- February (Quito, Ecuador): The 15th Local Rights of Nature Tribunal on Canadian Mining in Ecuador heard experts and witnesses expose the devastating consequences of large-scale mining in the country, mainly dominated by Canadian companies, affecting ecosystems and local communities. More information.
• February (Toronto, Canada): Judges delivered a historic oral verdict finding Canadian mining companies guilty of violating the Rights of Nature, Indigenous rights, and human rights across multiple continents. Read more.
• March (Chile): Launch of the judgment in the Biobío case, declaring the impacts of the forestry model ecocidal. More information.
• September (New York): During Climate Week, the Tribunal issued its ruling on the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Southgate Extension, and delivered its judgment on Mexico’s Tren Maya megaproject, alongside a resolution on the mega pig farms in the Yucatán peninsula and a letter directly addressing Mexico’s current president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
• November (Belém, Brazil): The Tribunal concluded its 6th session with the New Pledge for Mother Nature, calling for urgent global climate action. More information.
As we look toward 2026…
This year has brought unprecedented clarity: the Rights of Nature is no longer a visionary idea; it is rapidly becoming a global legal framework shaping constitutions, court rulings, community governance, and international human rights law.
Yet the work ahead remains urgent. Extractivism, climate disruption, pollution, and biodiversity collapse continue to threaten the foundations of life. But with every new law, ruling, and declaration, we see the emergence of a new legal and moral paradigm, one rooted in interdependence, reciprocity, and care for Mother Earth.
Support the Rights of Nature Movement
As we celebrate the victories of 2025, we invite you to sustain this momentum into 2026 and beyond. Your contributions power every tribunal, campaign, and legal advance that makes this work possible.
Make a year-end gift to defend the Rights of Nature.
Thank you for standing with us. Together, we are transforming the legal landscape and building a world where Nature is recognized, respected, and protected as a living community of which we are a part.
