By Bill Ottman at minds.com
The Law of Mother Earth (“Ley de Derechos de La Madre Tierra”) holds the land as sacred and holds it as a living system with rights to be protected from exploitation, and creates 11 distinguished rights for the environment. It was passed by Bolivia’s Plurinational Legislative Assembly. This 10 article law is derived from the first part of a longer draft bill, drafted and released by the Pact of Unity by November 2010. Can we please spread this law? There has to be a way for the free market to interoperate with reverence for this planet. Period.
In accordance with the philosophy of Pachamama, it states, “She is sacred, fertile and the source of life that feeds and cares for all living beings in her womb. She is in permanent balance, harmony and communication with the cosmos. She is comprised of all ecosystems and living beings, and their self-organisation.”
“It makes world history. Earth is the mother of all,” said Vice-President Alvaro García Linera. “It establishes a new relationship between man and nature, the harmony of which must be preserved as a guarantee of its regeneration.”
The law enumerates seven specific rights to which Mother Earth and her constituent life systems, including human communities, are entitled to:
- To life: It is the right to the maintenance of the integrity of life systems and natural processes which sustain them, as well as the capacities and conditions for their renewal
- To the Diversity of Life: It is the right to the preservation of the differentiation and variety of the beings that comprise Mother Earth, without being genetically altered, nor artificially modified in their structure, in such a manner that threatens their existence, functioning and future potential
- To water: It is the right of the preservation of the quality and composition of water to sustain life systems and their protection with regards to contamination, for renewal of the life of Mother Earth and all its components
- To clean air: It is the right of the preservation of the quality and composition of air to sustain life systems and their protection with regards to contamination, for renewal of the life of Mother Earth and all its components
- To equilibrium: It is the right to maintenance or restoration of the inter-relation, interdependence, ability to complement and functionality of the components of Mother Earth, in a balanced manner for the continuation of its cycles and the renewal of its vital processes
- To restoration: It is the right to the effective and opportune restoration of life systems affected by direct or indirect human activities
- To live free of contamination: It is the right for preservation of Mother Earth and any of its components with regards to toxic and radioactive waste generated by human activities
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_Rights_of_Mother_Earth
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/13/bolivias-law-of-mother-earth_n_848966.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/science/earth/14bolivia.html
http://www.newser.com/story/116229/bolivia-to-give-nature-same-rights-as-humans.html
So many awesome initiatives taking place in different parts of the world for nature. Hopefully we can work faster.. It already feels like our efforts are too late.
In Poland goverment changes law and messes with constitution, independent news will be shutdown and make internet fully censored. It may be my last message if Tor will be affected too….. so than you for years of good articles. 🙁
This is absolutely fantastic, this needs to be put in place worldwide to save whats left of our rain forests and all ecosystems.
I laughed about this, because that same government is destroying the national parks and want to build a highway to Brazil which it would destroy part of the amazon forest. And let companies exploit the soil without no regulation, let the coca growers contaminate the rivers waters with the chemicals used to produce cocaine . Want to build a nuclear plant, and many more things that I don’t have the time to specify each one of them
This is a funny one, Bolivian government want to build a nuclear plant, destroy the amazon building a highway to nowhere just to help the coca growers to take their “product” to Brazil, allow them to throw the chemicals to the rivers…so I wonder what mother earth they are talking about.
P.S just check Poopo lake or Tipnis highway google it just for the fun of
The planet can also be considered as a living being. it is alive every time. geology
from this sentence “without being genetically altered, nor artificially modified in their structure, in such a manner that threatens their existence, functioning and future potential”, find origins of nature of life and the purity of nature and beingness that needs to be preserved and taken as beings most important and precious part they are gifted from birth… purity from origins of natural life should be preserved not transformed, not lost, not forgotten, not ever…