We’re excited to launch a new “Rights of Nature” campaign for rivers across the Colorado River basin. We are working in collaboration with local and national groups — and legal scholars — on this campaign.
Check out our first success! “Rights of Nature for the Boulder Creek Watershed” in Nederland Colorado. Media stories: 1. Boulder Daily Camera, 2, KUNC radio, 3. Denver Post.
Check out our second success! “Rights of Nature for the Uncompahgre River Watershed in Ridgway, Colorado. Media story: Colorado Sun
Check out our third success, “Rights of Nature for the Grand Lake Watershed, Grand Lake, Colorado. Media story: 9News Denver
Check out our fourth BIG success, “First Rights of Nature ‘Guardians’ in U.S. History Appointed for Boulder Creek.” Media: Colorado Sun, Inside Climate News
Check out this MAJOR story in PBS Marketplace aired on NPR affiliates nationwide. Longer podcast here, shorter story here.
Check out the “Universal Declaration for Rights of Rivers” here: https://www.rightsofrivers.org/
Check out our press release when we launched the program here: “Save The Colorado Launches ‘Rights of Nature’ Program To Counter Wall-Street Takeover of Colorado’s Rivers“
Below is a list of resources we are compiling to help incubate and accelerate the “Rights of Rivers” efforts across the Colorado River basin (and the world!)
Rights of Nature Background Resources
- For an informative overview watch: “Rights of Nature – A Global Documentary“
- A book that parallels the film and provides background on many of the rights of nature campaigns both in the U.S. and around the world: The Rights of Nature: A Legal Revolution That Could Save the World by David R. Boyd
- Ted Talk by Kelsey Leonard.
- Community Toolkit from Earth Law Center, link here to pdf:
- An overview from the Waterkeeper Alliance, link here to Youtube video:
- Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature Map (also a list of video and book resources etc.)
Rights of Rivers, recent articles
- “Humans Have Rights and So Should Nature”, Issue 94: Evolving — Nautilus
- “Florida County Overwhelmingly Supports Giving Legal Rights to Rivers”, Circle of Blue
- “Should Rivers Have The Same Legal Rights As Humans?” — NPR
- “Should Rivers Have Rights? A Growing Movement Says It’s About Time”,Yale 360
- “Dramatic Global Rise in Laws Defending Rights of Nature”, Reuters
- “Could the Ohio River have rights? A movement to grant rights to the environment tests the power of local control”, Environmental Health News
- “Rights of Rivers Enter the Mainstream”, by Grant Wilson in Ecological Citizen
- “Can we protect nature by giving it legal rights? Around the world, communities are using “Rights of Nature” laws to defend waterways, species and more from human threats.”, MinnPost
- “Time To Recognize and Respect Rivers’ Legal Rights”, Third Pole
- “Water Markets vs Rights of Nature for the West’s Rivers”, Water Deeply
Law School Textbook (new in 2021)
Connections with Groups (local, national, international) promoting Rivers’ Rights
Sample Municipal Ordinance and Resolution:
- Download here a document that contains: Model ‘Rights of Nature’ Ordinance and Resolution for Municipalities.
- Check out our first success! “Rights of Nature for the Boulder Creek Watershed” in Nederland Colorado.
- Check out our second success: “Rights of Nature for the Uncompahgre River Watershed” in Ridgway, Colorado.
- Check out our third success: “Rights of Nature for the Grand Lake Watershed” in Grand Lake, Colorado.