Why do you use the Equal Earth Projection for the map?

When designing the Eco Jurisprudence Tracker, it was important to us to try to provide a decolonized map, to the extent possible, to be consistent with our ethic of inclusion. We sought to demonstrate our commitment to a decolonized map in three ways: (1) using a projection that is not centered on Europe and/or is “inverted” by showing the Southern Hemisphere on top; (2) using a projection that does not distort certain regions, but portrays them all equally; and (3) providing the option for users to select between a traditional political map (showing political boundaries) and a physical map that does not contain human-made boundaries, and so emphasizes Nature.

In practice, we are limited by certain budgetary and technology limitations that require us to use already established map projection packages, in order to have the user accessibility and interaction features that we want. These and other technical reasons meant we are limited to the projections available on Mapbox.com. Of the available map projects, we believe the Equal Earth Projection provides the best compromise between our desire to use a decolonized map and the need to use existing mapbox projections to provide high quality accessibility and interactive features. The advantage of this map is that it does not distort the areas of the poles compared to the ones near the equator (like the conventional Mercatur Projection does), presenting all regions equally accurately. It also allows us to provide both a physical map and political map. The downside is that we cannot invert the map or re-center it away from its center on Greenwich.

Why does the timeline begin at 1990?

We recognize that there are different notions of time and that not all time is based on a linear perspective. Nevertheless, we provide this timeline is to show the relatively recent growth in the number of initiatives to apply ecological jurisprudence as a way to illustrate the strengthening of social movements advocating ecological jurisprudence around the world. The Eco Jurisprudence Tracker includes many initiatives that pre-date 1990, and we recognize that communities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples have systems of customary law that are consistent with ecological jurisprudence principles and that date back many generations. We chose to begin this timeline at 1990 to make the rapid increase in ecological law post-2000 more easily visible.

How should I acknowledge and cite information from the Eco Jurisprudence Tracker?

Whenever you publish research or present results based on information obtained from the Eco Jurisprudence Tracker, please include the following acknowledgement or an appropriate equivalent:

“We wish to thank the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor for providing the data on ecological jurisprudence initiatives used in this paper. The Eco Jurisprudence Monitor was created through collaboration among an international team of independent researchers affiliated with the Academic Hub of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. The project was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.”

When publishing results based on the Eco Jurisprudence Tracker, please also include a citation for the dataset itself, such as the following:

Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon, Alex Putzer, and Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Tracker. V1. 2022. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. https://ecojurisprudence.org.

What should I do if I find an error in the Eco Jurisprudence Tracker?

The Eco Jurisprudence Monitor team does its best to identify ecological jurisprudence initiatives and portray accurate information about them. However, we recognize that we may miss initiatives and that our information can become out of date over time. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to info@ecojurisprudence.org. You may also report them by clicking on the “Report an Initiative” button on the top right of the map on the Tracker page.