Greetings, friends and allies - As our movement reaches key milestones on the road to COP30, we let you in on all the critical motions on rivers, oceans, and Antarctica being presented at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, reflect on Climate Week NYC, and groundbreaking legal advances. Yet, amid this progress, we cannot ignore the alarming situation unfolding in Ecuador, where hard-won protections, like those safeguarding the Los Cedros cloud forest, are under threat from sweeping legal reforms. These attacks remind us that the Rights of Nature must not only be enshrined but fiercely defended. Read on to explore these stories, learn about new opportunities to engage, and join us in strengthening a global movement rooted in justice, reciprocity, and the flourishing of all life. |
| | | | | 🌿 Rights of Nature motions at the heart of the IUCN World Conservation Congress | | |
|  | From 9–12 October 2025, the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi will decide the future of global conservation policy. This year, Rights of Nature is at the center of critical motions: Recognizing the rights of Antarctica, transforming our relationship with the ocean, protecting rivers as living entities, promoting coexistence & ecological recovery, and perationalizing Rights of Nature in real territories. Why it matters: these motions influence international law, shape biodiversity policy, and strengthen the recognition of ecosystems as living communities with their own rights. | | |
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| | Coming up: Rights of Nature at COP30, join us! | | |
|  | For the past three years, UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) has been hosted by oil-producing nations (Egypt 2022, UAE 2023, and Azerbaijan 2024) where civil society participation and activism faced significant limitations. COP30 in 2025 in Brazil marks a significant shift. Brazil, an Amazonian country with a government open to civil society and with existing Rights of Nature legislation, offers a strategic opportunity to amplify the Rights of Nature movement globally. GARN will be advocating inside and outside COP30 for the recognition of the Rights of Nature, a systemic solution to climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystem destruction. We are bringing forward three key initiatives. Read all about them! | | |
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| | | | Rights of Nature rising at Climate Week NYC | | |
| From September 21–26, GARN joined civil society in New York City for Climate Week, bringing the Rights of Nature movement to the heart of global climate conversations. Across powerful gatherings, GARN amplified Indigenous leadership, grassroots voices, and legal innovation, from the Indigenous Council’s call to action on the inseparability of Indigenous rights and Nature’s rights, to the International Rights of Nature Tribunal’s landmark verdict against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. | | |
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| | Funding opportunity: For Nature Request for Proposal! | | |
| The National Geographic Society announces the For Nature Request for Proposal (RFP), developed in collaboration with National Geographic Explorer Callie Veelenturf. This funding opportunity aims to support research and conservation projects that leverage scientific data to drive high-impact initiatives and advance nature's legal protection. The For Nature program seeks to catalyze global momentum for the Rights of Nature movement by placing science at its core. | | |
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| | 📣 Opportunity for Rights of Nature dissertations & essays in German & English! | | |
| The Winter Foundation for the Rights of Nature works to advance substantial environmental protection through legal-based initiatives and projects. The Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2026 Prize: Dissertations (10,000 EUR)
Essays (3 × 2,000 EUR)
on the Rights of Nature. Deadline: 31 March 2026. Other languages might be accepted, but they will be reviewed in a case by case basis by the jury. | | |
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| | Watch now! The Road of the Rights of Nature to COP30 - Rights of Nature Tribunal | | |
| As the world prepares for COP30 in Belém, Brazil, GARN and the International Rights of Nature Tribunal held an online session to highlight how recognizing and implementing the Rights of Nature can transform the fight for climate justice. Participants explored GARN’s 15 years of work advancing the Rights of Nature, discovered the Policy of Defenders with testimony from affected communities, and learned about the upcoming Tribunal hearing “A New Pledge for Mother Nature” in Belém. | | |
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| | | We present GARN’s Outstanding Member of the Month:
Callie Veelenturf! | | |
| This month, GARN proudly recognizes Callie Veelenturf as our Outstanding Member of the Month for her groundbreaking marine conservation work in Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador, including co-drafting Panama’s Rights of Nature Law (287), pioneering the world’s first legal rights for sea turtles, and founding For Nature at the National Geographic Society. Her leadership is bridging science and law to inspire a global paradigm shift. | | |
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| | "In the global journey to recognize the Rights of Nature, I have found my life's purpose, particularly through the use of marine and ecological science to justify and exemplify this powerful legal framework in practice, and in GARN, I have found a family, an international team on this same mission, working together to provide Nature with the ultimate level of legal protection. Recognition like this, coming from a family I admire so deeply, is the greatest encouragement to carry on together, for Nature" | | |
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| | | | Do you know an individual or organization advancing the Rights of Nature? | | |
| Nominate them—or yourself—for GARN's Outstanding Member of the Month! Join GARN as a member for free and receive the link to apply straight to your inbox. | | |
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|
 | | | Episode 7 of GARN’s podcast, Conversations with Mother Nature, is now live! | | |
| We’re excited to share Episode 7 of Conversations with Mother Nature, a deep dive into the Eco-Jurisprudence Monitor (EJM), an open-access platform mapping ecological law initiatives and organizing the resources communities need to use them. Our guests, Alessandro Pelizzon (GARN Executive Committee; University of the Sunshine Coast) and Craig Kauffman (University of Oregon), helped build this effort through GARN’s Academic Hub, bringing research, pedagogy, and practice into conversation. | | |
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Interesting Rights of Nature reads & events |
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 | | | Español: Nuevo libro sobre Derechos de la Naturaleza en América Latina | | |
| La ONG FIMA acaba de lanzar “Exploraciones interdisciplinarias de los Derechos de la Naturaleza”, una publicación que reúne siete capítulos con miradas desde la filosofía, el derecho ambiental, las ciencias sociales y ambientales, con prólogo de nuestra directora Natalia Greene. | | |
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|  | | | More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program's Festival of Ideas | | |
| The More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program's Festival of Ideas is "an annual academic and public space dedicated to the interdisciplinary exploration of ideas for earthly flourishing" and will be held May 18-20, 2026 in New York City. Apply to present by Nov 15, 2025. | | |
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|  | | | The scientists making the case for Nature’s rights | | |
| The Rights of Nature is one of the fastest-growing movements on the planet. Now, scientists are increasingly signing on, working with Indigenous communities and others to advance laws and philosophies on behalf of the more-than-human world. | | |
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 | | | The bloom of Nature's rights | | |
| Affirming that humans are an integral part of the natural world and its interconnected systems, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights embraces an Earth-centred approach, which maintains that we are not above the world that surrounds us; we are a part of it. | | |
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|  | | | How the Rights of Nature movement is reshaping law & culture | | |
| From the sacred peaks of Aotearoa to the rivers of Colombia and the contested waters of Lake Erie, a global movement is emerging to grant the natural world legal personhood, driven by Indigenous worldviews and a growing call for environmental justice. | | |
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|  | | | 🌿🌍 Who do environmental laws really protect? | | |
| In this article, GARN Youth Hub and Youth for Ecocide Law explore how the Ecocide Law and the Rights of Nature can transform our legal systems to truly defend the Earth. These two youth-led movements are joining forces to demand real ecological justice and hold those who harm ecosystems accountable. | | |
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| | Support the Rights of Nature! | Make your contribution to the movement by donating to the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature! Together, we are building a powerful global movement to recognize, respect and defend the Rights of Nature. |
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| | | © 2025 The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. All rights reserved. |
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