Rio+20 Portal

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The Rights of Mother Earth campaign aims to create a grassroots movement to bring about a global recognition and acceptance of Rights of Nature. An essential step for achieving this is to introduce a system of jurisprudence that sees and treats Nature as a fundamental, rights bearing entity and not as mere property to be exploited at will.

In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to officially recognize the rights of nature in its constitution. In April 2010 the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth was proclaimed in Cochabamba, Bolivia at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and The Rights of Mother Earth, a diverse gathering of 35,000 people from 140 nations. In 2011 Bolivia introduced Rights of Nature through its Law of Mother Earth. In the United States, over 24 towns and cities have implemented rights of nature ordinances.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 4-6 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The Rights of Mother Earth campaign aims to collect one million letters written by people from around the world, addressed to Heads of Nations and the UN General Assembly. The letters requesting the acceptance and implementation of the Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth by ALL Nations will be delivered by a delegation of youth to the Earth Summit/Rio+20 in June 2012.

Our Commitment:

• To create a world wide, grassroots movement calling forth the acceptance and implementation of “The Universal Declaration of The Rights of Mother Earth” by all Nations.

The Campaign

An Awakening The Dreamer Symposium (ATD) will be held at the Earth Summit/Rio+20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 20th – 23th June 2012.

ATD is a workshop using video elements and interactive activities, creating awareness about the state of the world and how we can change “the dream we have been living” to a “dream that is sustainable”. The Symposium guides us to understand and discover within ourselves, actions we can take, that will be environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just. (For more information, see http://awakeningthedreamer.org/)

Thousands of letters written by people from around the world, addressed to Heads of Nations and The UN General Assembly are delivered by a delegation of Youth, requesting the acceptance and implementation by all Nations of ” The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.”

This compelling event is broadcast in the news and streamed live around the world to ATD Symposiums and similar gatherings, which are held simultaneously like “Mini-Earth Summits” worldwide.

In the course of this campaign leading up to the Earth Summit, people have worked with “The Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth”, they have learned about it and are integrating it in their hearts and lives already.

This is a celebration of people’s love for our home Planet Mother Earth! We invite World leaders, the UN and Corporations to join us on this path!