Steven Edwards, Postmedia News, provides details for this controversial draft United Nations treaty that was submitted by Bolivia and will be debated by the UN two days before April 22, the second International Mother Earth Day.
The initiative aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity. A document that grants the Earth a series of specific rights that include rights to life, water and clean air, the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities, and the right to be free from pollution.
Pablo Salon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the UN, says his country just wants to achieve harmony with nature. “If you want to have balance, and you think that the only (entities) who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance? But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and (if you provide) legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance.”
Global environmentalists, which include Canadian activist Maude Barlow, will be showing support by launching a new book in New York during the UN debate entitled Nature Has Rights.
Human Factor 