The Rights of Nature vs. Human Rights?

The Rights of Nature vs. Human Rights?

Struggles for environmental, racial, and gender justice in Colombia, Ecuador, and the U.S.

The right to nature and its benefits to human beings are widely recognized. An increasing number of countries, following the lead of Ecuador, have begun to recognize the rights of nature. This new legal framework offers rich possibilities for protecting the environment, but may also invite tensions between environment, women’s, Indigenous and Afrodescendant rights.

Join us for two panel discussions with leading scholars, lawyers, and activists. How have the “rights of nature” been a legal tool used to advance Indigenous and Afrodescendant rights in Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States? What lessons and strategies can we learn from Afrodescendant, Indigenous, and women’s rights activists leading environmental struggles?

8:30-9 am Coffee and refreshments

9:00-10:45 Law and the Rights of Nature Across the Americas

This panel features lawyers that have used the rights of nature in legal cases to protect Indigenous and Afrodescendant claims in Ecuador, Colombia and the United States.

Moderated by Amanda Lyons, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, Law School

11:00-12:30 Women Activists and the Rights of Nature Across the Americas

This panel features Indigenous and Afrodescendant women environmental activists from Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States who will reflect on the environmental struggles they lead and whether or not the rights of nature are a useful tool in those efforts.

Moderated by Dr. Christina Ewig, Director of the Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy.

Additional speakers TBA

Co-hosted by the Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy and the Human Rights Center

Co-sponsored by the Human Rights Program, American Indian Studies, RIDGS, and the Women’s Center.