Land-based legal movement celebrates 20 years

On Sept. 19, 2006, a landmark local ordinance in a former Pennsylvania mining town enshrined the idea that natural ecosystems can exercise civil rights under the western legal system. The Tamaqua Borough Council ordinance drew upon traditional Indigenous understanding of the relation between humans and their environment, and it influenced an international movement that continues making strides today. 

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund that worked alongside Tamaqua residents to defend their land against corporate pollution recently released its inaugural report on what is now known as the Rights of Nature movement. The law firm detailed how more than 60 local governments in the U.S. and North American tribal nations now recognize the rights of nature. Around the world, 35 countries have also adopted rights of nature protections, and support for the rights of nature in Ecuador helped block a controversial mining project in 2021. 

Native youth leaders play a growing role in the Rights of Nature movement. In eastern Massachusetts, young members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe connected with the Bioneers organization in 2021 in an effort to save local herring populations on the decline. Bioneers supported a Mashpee group to attend an intertribal Indigenous youth gathering led by the Tlingit tribe in Alaska, where representatives of different Native traditions connected over shared values around the environment and youth leadership. 

Out of this foundation, Bioneers reports the network of young tribal leaders has achieved victories protecting the rights of the Colorado River and the Longperson stream and empowering Native youth worldwide.