Toward a Universal Declaration of Planetary Rights
1. Planetary Rights COP 15
PLANETARY RIGHTS
and the implications for
international legislative
frameworks
Polly Higgins COP 15 December 2009
Barrister Advocate of Planetary Rights
Initiator Universal Declaration of Planetary RIghts and Rights of All Beings
Founder Trees Have Rights Too
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2. Planetary Rights COP 15
SUMMARY
1. Why we need expansion of rights
2. The Planetary Rights explained
3. Current inclusion in COP 15, para 13
4. Bolivia’s recent UN Resolution
5. Proposals for next steps
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3. Planetary Rights COP 15
1. EXPANSION OF RIGHTS
why we need them
1. trade mechanisms not sufficient
2. identification of ‘value’
3. history of rights extends to eco-systems
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4. 2 DIVERGENT APPROACHES
Planet Earth
=
Inert Thing Living Being
= =
Imposed Value $$$ Intrinsic Value
= =
Commodity Responsibility
= =
OLD PARADIGM NEW PARADIGM
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5. Trade: Transition:
| |
Pollution continues: Laws to stop pollution:
Carbon Permits to Pollute EPA rules GHG = pollution
Business as usual: Finance the transition:
dirty fuel subsidies remain withdraw dirty fuel subsidies
($300 billion pa) implement clean energy subsidies
International trade: Community Governance:
Kyoto Protocol (ecological restoration, Community
(CDM, JI) Land Trusts, Global Commons)
Hidden: Unaccountable Transparent: Accountable
(now + for future generations)
= =
SLAVE SERVICE
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6. SLAVERY
200 years ago:
human slavery = human energy
Today:
planet slavery = fossil fuel energy
Instead of enslaving humans
we have enslaved the planet
*Heavy extractive industry accounts for
78% of the worldsʼ man-made GHGʼs
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7. 200 years ago:
300 companies traded in slaves
Industry said: Industry proposed:
- to stop would be uneconomic - leave it to market forces (trade)
- to stop would lead to loss of jobs - self-regulation
- use less/use more efficiently
“Public demand that it remain”
- improve conditions
- limit numbers (cap)
- tradeable permits
- pay fines if exceed
Industry said it was
a necessity
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8. TODAY:
300 corporations* trade the planet
Industry said: Industry proposed:
- to stop would be uneconomic - leave it to market forces (trade)
- to stop would lead to loss of jobs - self-regulation
- use less/use more efficiently
“Public demand that it remain”
- improve conditions
- limit numbers (cap)
- tradeable permits
- pay fines if exceed
Industry said it was
a necessity
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9. 200 years ago:
The industry proposals were laughed at
Human slavery was outlawed
Today:
The proposals have been implemented
Planetary slavery continues
“Necessity is the plea
for every infringement
of human freedom:
it is the argument of tryrants
it is the creed of slaves.”
William Pitt, Prime Minister, House of Commons, 18 March 1783
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10. 60 years ago
Human Rights were set down
as law after the humanitarian crisis
of the 2nd world war.
Now we have a planetary crisis.
Now we need laws to protect the planet.
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12. Planetary Rights COP 15
2. THE PLANETARY RIGHTS
Right to Diversity
Right to Ecological Integrity
Freedom of the Natural Cycles of Life
Right Not to be Polluted
Right to Restorative Justice
Freedom of a Healthy & Clean Environment
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13. Example: LOESS PLATEAU, CHINA
35,000 square kilometres of the most inhospitable
terrain on the planet.
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14. Hierarchy of failing Ecosystems
Loss of biodiversity -> reduced biomass -> reduced
photosynthesis -> loss of carbon sequestration ->
reduced accumulated necromass -> breakdown of
soil stability -> insufficient nutrient cycling ->
hydrological regulation breakdown
(Natural Infiltration and Retention of Rainfall)
Systemic dysfunction
extensive disruption -> continuous, accumulative, predictable outcomes
OUTCOMES: soil erosion -> loss of fertility -> floods
-> drought -> mudslides -> dust storms -> food
insecurity -> poverty -> disparity -> climate change
-> unchecked population growth
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15. Planetary Rights COP 15
Focus of the Leuss Principles
diversity
ecological integrity
-> natural cycles of life
banned polluting practices
implemented extensive restoration
-> a healthy & clean environment
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17. Planetary Rights COP 15
THE RIGHT NOT TO BE POLLUTED
Pollution = introduction of contaminants into
the environment that causes instability,
disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem
eg chemical substances, energy, foreign or
naturally occurring (when exceed natural levels)
Forms of pollution: air, water, soil, litter, radioactive
substances, noise, light, visual, thermal, GHGʼs
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18. ID of POLLUTION
Non-Point Source ID Point Source ID
= =
Country Fossil Fuel
eg USA extraction
Sector destruction of
eg Logging natural habitat
Carbon use of contaminants
= =
OLD PARADIGM NEW PARADIGM
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19. Planetary Rights COP 15
3. CURRENT INCLUSION
Para 13:“Noting that a shared vision for long-term cooperative
action should take account not only of the rights of human
beings, but also of the rights of Mother Earth and all its
natural beings as the adverse effects of climate change also
have a range of direct and indirect implications for the full
and effective enjoyment of human rights – including the right
to sustainable development, self determination, statehood,
life, the right of people not to be deprived of their own means
of subsistence, the right to water and the right to live well –
and are increasingly posing a risk to security and the survival,
sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.”
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20. Planetary Rights COP 15
4. BOLIVIA’S UN RESOLUTION
“Harmony with Mother Earth
...seeks recognition of the Earth as a Whole and the
interaction of human beings with that system
of which we are a part”
presented by Bolivia to the UN 12.11.09
Co-sponsored by 22 countries: Algeria, Benin, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape
Verde, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Eritrea, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mauritius,
Nepal, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Seychelles
and Venezuela.
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21. Planetary Rights COP 15
5. NEXT STEPS
& PROPOSALS
1. replace Sustainability with Responsibility
(ID duties and obligations eg health of the asset)
2. ID point-source pollution
3. legislate out damaging practices (harm)
legislate in beneficial practices (restore)
(stewardship via public trust doctrine/fiduciary laws)
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