Colombia Law: rights of the Rancheria River
On August 8, 2024, the Congress of Colombia passed a law declaring the Rancheria River a subject of rights.Read More →
Local Eco Knowledge
This page identifies ecological jurisprudence initiatives that are led and/or co-developed by one or more non-Indigenous community/campesino groups and applies their traditional ecological knowledge and relationality in recognition of nature. An initiative is considered locally-led and/or co-developed when one or more of the groups involved in the initiative explicitly self-identifies as a local group living in close proximity to the ecosystem/element of Nature in question.
Africa Protected Areas Congress (2022) Kigali Declaration: “We are Nature”
In 2022, representatives of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities from more than 40 African nations made the Kigali Declaration "We Are Nature."Read More →
Benin National Sacred Forest Law of 2012
The Benin Sacred Forest Law passed in 2012 recognizing sacred forests where gods, spirits and ancestors reside, and communities that protect and govern them.Read More →
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Resolution: sacred natural sites and territories
The Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network made a resolution recognizing sacred sites, territories and their customary governance systems in 2017.Read More →
Nariño (Colombia) Regional Decree 348: rights of nature
In 2019, a Regional Decree by the Gobernación de Nariño granted rights to of all region's strategic ecosystems and established them as subjects of projections.Read More →
Uganda National Environmental Act of 2019
In 2019, Uganda enacted the National Environmental Act of 2019, recognizing rights of nature and invoking ecological jurisprudence values.Read More →
Colombia Constitutional Court Case: rights of the Atrato River
In 2016, Colombia's Atrato River case established the first jurisprudence in Latin America where a court declares the recognition of an ecosystem’s rights.Read More →