The latest news shows the oceans are absorbing more heat. Since all life depends on the ocean, and the ocean covers over 70% of Earth's surface - we need solutions like Earth Law to safeguard marine ecosystem health and protection.

1. Ocean Rights Program
Michelle Bender, Ocean Rights Manager, Earth Law Center (ELC)
Executive Committee, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN)
March 2018

2. In addition to ELC
• Marine Biology at Western
WA Univ.
• Environmental Law at
Vermont Law School
• Policy Analyst at Monterey
Bay Aquarium; Animal
Welfare Institute, Friends of
the Sea Otter, Perkins Coie

3. The Ocean Supports All Life
• 50-80% of all life on Earth
found in the ocean
• Produces half of the world’s
oxygen
• Absorbs one-third of the
carbon dioxide
• Provides protection from
extreme weather events
• A source of food and
livelihoods

4. Growing Momentum for Ocean Protection
• The First World Conference on
National Parks considered the need for
protection of coastal and marine areas-
1962
• UN Convention on the Law of the Sea-
1982
• Political Will- 10% by 2020; 30% by
2030
• A new international treaty for
biodiversity on the high seas; 50 % of
planet
• First United Nations Ocean
Conference 2017
ELC and partners Jose Truda, Brazilian Humpback Whale
Institute, and Charlotte Vick Mission Blue at the World
Ocean Summit 2018

5. Yet, Ocean Health in Decline
• Overfishing, climate change and
plastic pollution as top 3 threats
• 60% of major marine
ecosystems degraded or used
unsustainably
• Marine biodiversity has declined
by 49%, roughly half of what it
was 50 years ago
• Top predatory fish decline by
90%, 50% of coral reefs

6. Why?
• Current worldview; ocean= open access resource= $$
• Laws do not aim to prevent harm
Values
Laws and
policies
Protection and
restoration OR
Decline

7. Ocean Laws: Now & Future
Human-Centric
Magnuson- Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
(MSA)
• Optimum is defined as the
“amount of fish which will
provide the greatest overall
benefit to the Nation”
• Health of ocean secondary to
economics
• Stocks still overfished (16%)
Ocean-Centric
• Earth Law for
Oceans would
define optimum as
that which supports
the health and well
being of the ocean
• So health of ocean
becomes primary
consideration
• No stocks
overfished
Over 90% of the world's assessed fisheries have met or exceeded their biological limits (FAO,
2014).

8. Earth Law Momentum for Oceans
• Building on the wins in
Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico
City, 36 municipalities in the
US plus 4 rivers –
momentum is building
• Colombian Amazon legal
entity subject to basic rights
• Cook Islands & Convention
on the Rights of the Pacific
Ocean
Whanganui River, Radio NZ 2017

9. Creating the Legal Pathway
Create
model for
manage-
ment
Expand
links and
partner-
ships
Achieve
local wins
around the
world
National
level rights
recognition
Ocean
gains legal
rights
worldwide

10. ELC's Ocean Rights Program
Advances ocean stewardship by
promoting governance centered on
the Ocean’s well-being. Objectives:
1) Ocean Rights in International
Treaty
2) Pass Sustainability Rights
Ordinances
3) Create a holistic and rights-
based framework for marine
protected areas
4) Launch campaigns to
implement framework

11. ELC Ocean Initiative
Ocean Rights
• Objective:UN General Assembly support for Treaty
for Biodiversity on the High Seas
• Launched campaign at UN Ocean Conference in
June 2017
• Call to action for governments and stakeholders to
include rights of nature in ocean governance
• 67 organizations from 32 countries signed on in
support
• Formal treaty negotiations September 2018

12. Coastal Rights Ordinances
Objective: 10 coastal communities by
2020
• Santa Monica 2013 Sustainability
Rights Ordinance
• Communities rights to clean and
safe waters, marine waters have
right to exist and flourish, and
Santa Monica's to protect
ecosystem
Communities and Island Nations facing
climate change effects, pressures such
as offshore drilling, highly polluted
coastlines, endangered species in
waters etc.

13. 5.3% of the World’s Oceans Protected
The Objective: Create a holistic and rights-based framework for
marine protected areas

14. More About Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
• Well managed MPAs proven to
restore ocean health.
• Expanding the coverage of no-take
MPAs to 30% show benefits far
exceed the costs: up to 920 billion
USD and 180,000 jobs
• No take= no extractive activities.
• Paper parks= designated, but not
implemented
(Van Beukering et al., 2013; Ferrario et al., 2014; FAO, 2014; Brander et al., 2015).

15. ELC Framework for Marine Protected Areas
The Objective: Create a holistic and rights-based framework for
marine protected areas
The Process
• 3 months writing and research
• 3 month call for inputs
• 3 months finalizing for launch
Earth Day
• Endorsed by Mission Blue and
creators of other frameworks!

16. ELC Framework for Marine Protected Areas
Each component can evolve
•A definition of the term "MPA"
•Basic description of the area and associated values
•Preliminary guidance and responsibilities
•Authorities in charge, criteria and process for
decision-making
•Objectives
•Rules, penalties and enforcement
•Zoning plan
•Monitoring towards effective implementation

17. Next Evolution in Ocean Protection
IUCN
“[O]nly those areas
where the main
objective is
conserving nature
can be considered
protected areas; in
the case of conflict,
nature conservation
will be the priority"
Ocean's Rights and Intrinsic Value
• Rule of Law
• A true "systems-approach"
• Ocean health defined by ocean's
wellbeing
• "No-take" areas
• Precautionary approach

18. Support for the Earth Law Framework
18
• Resolution 100, “Incorporation of the Rights of Nature as the organizational focal point
in IUCN’s decision making.
• Large-Scale MPAs: the use of “a holistic management model that seeks to understand
the relationship between nature, culture and the human dimension."
International Union
for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN)
• World Charter for Nature“ Nature shall be respected and its essential processes shall
not be impaired.”
• UN Harmony with Nature: "holistic and integrated approaches to sustainable
development... that will guide humanity to live in harmony with nature and lead to
efforts to restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystems.”
United Nations
• to achieve the needed holism, we must reject and replace “many (but not all) of the
processes upon which conventional management depends.”
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric
Administration
(NOAA)
• Sustainable development can be achieved if we“converge towards a more holistic
approach that balances both human well-being and ecological well-being.
Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO)

19. ELC will launch 8 ocean campaigns in 2018
Including:
• South Africa Marine Spatial
Planning Bill
• Uruguay's Whale and
Dolphin Sanctuary
• Argentina's Patagonian
Shelf
• Gearing up to launch
initiatives in Puget Sound
(USA), Brazil and
Venezuela

20. Two Approaches for MPA Rights
Legal Personhood Rights for nature
• Nature as a whole with a set of
rights
• Community responsible
• “Nature or Pachamama, where life
is reproduced and exists” with
inalienable rights to "exist, persist,
maintain and regenerate its vital
cycles, structure, functions and its
processes in evolution."
• Ecosystem as a legal
entity
• Guardianship
• Whanganui River: "Te
Awa Tupua is a legal
person and has all
the rights, powers,
duties, and liabilities
of a legal person."

21. Earth Law Framework in practice
A. MPA= Legal Entity
B. Codify Rights
C. Guardians and
management board
D. Right for humans to speak
on behalf
E. Effect on other laws
Monterey Bay Aquarium

22. Initiative: Legal Rights for the Whale and Dolphin
Sanctuary in Uruguay
Partners OCC
• Organización para la
Conservación de Cetáceos
(OCC)
• Prohibits the chasing,
hunting, catching, fishing, or
subjecting of cetaceans to
any process by which they
are transformed.
• Cetaceans= whales and
dolphins
Legal Rights Means
• Regulating shipping traffic
and tourism
• Prohibiting extraction and
fishing in critical habitat
• Cetaceans have a voice in
decisions
• No Commercializing with
strict penalties and
sanctions

23. Initiative: Legal Rights for the Puget Sound
Partners Nonhuman Rights
Project
• Two Puget Sound Coastal
Communities pass a Sustainability
Rights Ordinance
• Gain legal rights for the Southern
Resident Killer Whale
• Create new marine protected
areas (MPAs) in the Puget Sound
that connects existing MPAs to the
Orca’s critical habitat
Legal Rights Means
• Regulating shipping traffic and
tourism
• Prohibiting extraction and fishing
in critical habitat
• Cetaceans have a voice in
decisions
• Prohibit industrial discharge in
waterways
• Act NOW to save this iconic
species

24. Case Study: Ecuador
• Special Law for the Galapagos
• "An equilibrium among the
society, the economy, and nature;
cautionary measures to limit
risks; respect for the rights of
nature; restoration in cases of
damage; and citizen
participation"
• Lawsuit successful for illegal
shark finning
• Not full implementation

25. How You Can Make a Difference
• You already are; thank you for
being a part of ELC!
• Idea for an initiative?
• Share our initiatives; social media
posts etc.
• Tune in live on facebook April
22nd for the EARTHx panel

26. Thank you for your time!
mbender@earthlaw.org
For more information: www.earthlawcenter.org/oceanrights
"We must consider the rights of
the ocean. For just as those who
have been treated unfairly have
found it necessary to fight for and
claim their rights, so too has the
ocean been treated with injustice
and disrespect. And so now we
find it necessary to fight for the
rights of the ocean.”