Organisations that endorse the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands
"We wholeheartedly support the call for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands. Wetlands are vital to the hydrological cycles on Earth and home to many species. Recognizing the Rights of Wetlands is an important contribution towards living in Harmony with Nature and advancing the intrinsic Rights of Nature to exist and flourish. Thank you for this initiative."
The Rights of Mother Earth team www.RightsofMotherEarth.com
“How to properly connect these Universal Rights, with us humans? Through the "Own School" —a harmonious meeting place next to the wetland, where native and scientific knowledge become available to advise anyone on what those rights are and how to adequately implement them to benefit the wetland, and Mother Earth. And this "Own School" should be a right in itself to be declared too”
Mamo Roseliano, a Kankuamo indigenous representative, during a dialogue with Fundación Montecito about the Universal Declaration, by the shore of Lake Tota, Colombia, 02.2.2021
"Wetlands are crucial ecosystems, a natural common on which we depend. We must recognize and protect the rights of wetlands, for us and for future generations."
Marie Toussaint, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA)
All we have to offer our children and the generations of the future—ever—are choices to be made and some things of value from which to choose. Those choices and things of value, both biological and social (= legal), can be held within Planet Earth as a living trust, of which we, the adults of the current generation, are the legal caretakers or trustees for the next generation. Although the concept of a trustee or trusteeship seems fairly simple, the concept of a trust is more complex because it embodies more than one connotation of "trust." Consider, for example, the Earth as a legal living trust. The Earth (or any part thereof) is a biological living trust in the present for all generations. A living trust represents a dynamic process, whether in the sense of a legal document or a living entity. Human beings inherited the original living trust—Planet Earth—long before legal documents were invented. The Earth, as a living organism, is the ultimate biological living trust of which we are the trustees and for which we're all responsible.
Chris Maser - www.chrismaser.com
"I enthusiastically support the recognition of rights of wetlands, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands, and urge governments, courts, and international governance bodies everywhere, and especially the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, to recognize, implement and uphold these rights. As we have argued in La Follette & Maser 2020 (p11), assigning rights to Nature is neither a luxury nor an impediment to human progress - it is the restoring of relationship essential to life itself”
Cameron La Follette
"As a paradigm shift in how ecosystems are treated by dominant systems of law is advanced, it will be critical to simultaneously develop interpretations of the rights of specific ecosystems, based upon local indigenous ecological knowledge, and the best available scientific research. It's exciting to see this scientist-led contribution!"
Simon Davis-Cohen and Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, CELDF
“I wholeheartedly support the Rights of Wetlands. This should help slowing down the exploitation of the Nature (and the wetlands) and avoiding climate calamities. This might also help in shifting the focus from the increasing divide on God (in the name of religion) instead, many components of the Nature should be treated as gods or the equivalent. That way, the religious divide and tensions will ease and the main focus of the humans will shift to the real thing – the Nature. My ancestors used to do exactly that and I have seen them treating the Nature as persons, therefore, always sought permission before exploiting her.”
Swapan Paul
