International Rights of Nature Tribunal, 6th International Hearing: New York 2024/2025

Summary

Over 2024-2025, the 6th International Rights of Nature Tribunal unfolded in a three-part global process, culminating in a final session held at the UNFCCC COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025 where “A New Pledge for Mother Nature” was launched.

In September 2024, the first hearing “The End of the Fossil Fuel Era,” held during Climate Week in New York, dealt with the damages inflicted by the fossil fuel industry. It served as a critical platform to emphasize the urgent need to rethink societal reliance on fossil fuels, addressing their extensive contribution to the climate crisis through emissions and ecological damage. This Tribunal underscored the necessity of transitioning to low-carbon infrastructures to mitigate these impacts, albeit cautiously noting the pitfalls of ‘green extractivism,’ where the mining of minerals for renewable technologies poses new environmental challenges.

In February 2025, the second hearing “The Impacts of Mining and the Post-Extractivism Era Tribunal 2025” convened and focused on the environmental and human rights consequences of global mining activities, with a special emphasis on the operations of Canadian mining companies. This Tribunal, which was held in Toronto, highlighted the severe and widespread impact of mining practices, including deforestation, toxic spills, and violations of indigenous rights. The event aimed to challenge these practices by taking place ahead of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual conference.

The Tribunal’s final and decisive session “A New Pledge for Mother Nature” was held in November 2025 in Belém at the Universidade Federal do Pará during the UN COP30 conference. At this final session, the Tribunal judges, consisting of environmental and human rights experts from multiple countries, signed the document that urged civil society, governments, and international bodies (including the United Nations) to adopt a legal framework recognizing nature and ecosystems, especially the Amazon, as rights-bearing entities. Key demands in the Pledge include: an indefinite moratorium on new fossil fuel and large-scale mining expansion (rejecting “green-transition” justifications that perpetuate ecologically destructive extractivism); support for a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty; legal recognition of nature’s inherent rights alongside the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities; protection for environmental defenders; and systemic reparations and structural changes addressing the root causes of ecological destruction which include economic, social, and political systems built on exploitation.

Involved Organizations

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