Groundbreakers

Mari Margil tells of the genesis of the World’s first constitutional recognition of the Rights of Nature in Ecuador, where she consulted with Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly. Ms. Margil includes insight into the provision’s implementation in court, and how it has served to inspire RoN provisions throughout the globe.

Mari Margil is the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER. She works with civil society; national, state, and local governments; tribal nations; and indigenous communities in the U.S., Ecuador, Australia, the Philippines, Nepal, and elsewhere, to advance Rights of Nature frameworks. Margil received her Master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and is a co-author of several books on Earth Jurisprudence.

Human Rights advocate Alyn Ware shares behind the scenes story of how he and his legal team achieved and won the 1996 case against nuclear weapons in the International Court of Justice and the impact this has had on policy and practice. Mr. Ware explains why they chose to take the case to the International Court of Justice – regarding the US/NZ dispute over us banning nuclear warships; how they got to the court – beating the nuclear weapon states and their allies at the UN; how they won the case – despite a majority of judges from nuclear armed and allied states; and, how the opinion’s impact then and now.

Mr. Ware is a peace educator and international peace and disarmament campaigner. He is Co-founder and Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (USA), Peace and Disarmament Programs Director for the World Future Council (Germany), Director of the Basel Peace Office (Switzerland) and International Representative for Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace (the New Zealand affiliate of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms). He previously served as Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy(USA). He has won severalpeace awards including the Right Livelihood Award(Sweden), Alliance for Nuclear Accountability Award (USA), World Peace Award (Canada), United Nations International Year for Peace Award(NZ) and Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Award(NZ), and has been nominated a number of times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Eric Julien tells the story of his work to reclaim indigenous lands on behalf of the Kogi, a pre-columbian people living in what is now Colombia. Part of a decades-long engagement with the people, learning about and sharing their world view, their encyclopedic knowledge of biodiversity, and their efforts to reconstitute primary forests, this effort, which is supported by integrated programs in France including a primary school and a farm, has already recovered 2586 hectares, on which two to three thousand people and families are now living. Arising originally out of a near-death experience in the community 25 years ago, Eric’s engagement with the Kogi is fueled in part by the pure joy of learning from and engaging with an entirely different culture.

Eric is an activist and an author, who splits his time between Colombia and France. He has written extensively about this experiences including in “The Path of the 9 Worlds: The Kogi Indians of Colombian can teach us the Mysteries of Life” and “Voyage in the World of Sé: New Discoveries on the Kogi Indians,” which explore the cosmologies and environmental worldviews of the Kogi people.

This interview is in French.

Hugo Echeverria shares his good legal story about protecting Nature for its own sake. Ecuador remains the 1st and only country on the planet to recognize express Rights of Nature (RON) constitutionally. Hugo has worked on a variety of cases to enforce this provision, contributing to some of the world’s only jurisprudence about RON. He is the author of the first Amicus Curiae submitted at the National Court of Justice, in a case regarding wildlife crime, as well as an Amicus Curiae submitted at the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, in the first case selected by the Court to issue binding jurisprudence on Rights of Nature.

Hugo Echeverria is an Attorney at Law who has worked in environmental law since 2001, with an emphasis on biodiversity conservation, the environmental rule of law, and the Rights of Nature, areas in which he practices as an attorney and a consultant. His work focuses on a comparative approach to constitutional environmental rights (constitucionalismo ambiental latinoamericano), Rights of Nature, and protected areas of international importance.

He has written books as well as essays and articles on environmental law for national and international publications. His book on environmental due process, Tutela judicial efectiva en material ambiental, is the first in Ecuador examining the issue from a constitutional perspective.

He holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence granted by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Quito, Ecuador and Master of Laws (LLM) granted by McGill University in Montreal – Quebec, Canada. He has also served as a Scholar-in-Residence in Global Environmental Constitutionalism at Widener University Delaware Law School.