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Archive for Cormac Cullinan

United Natures – A United Nations of All Species

United NaturesJust released!  United Natures - a United Nations of all species movie

An indepth documentary feature film on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, earth jurisprudence, philosophy, permaculture, spirituality and a neo-indigenous future for humanity released on June 1st 2013.

Directed and produced by Peter Charles Downey, United Natures stars some of the world’s most foremost environmental activists and Global Alliance members, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Cormac Cullinan,  Linda Sheehan, Prof. Judith Koons, Dr. Alessandro Pelizzon, Polly Higgins, and numerous others. Click to review the United Natures trailer or for more information at United Natures movie site.

United Natures – a United Nations of all species. Official documentary trailer 2013 from United Natures on Vimeo.

Cormac Cullinan hosted by Earth Charter International

Cormac Cullinan - SAB Environmentalist of the Year 2012Earth Charter International hosted international environmental law and global governance experts Cormac Cullinan and Peter Brown for a webinar on Environmental Law and Global Governance.  Cullinan and Brown offered a critical analysis of the current global governance system for sustainability and the role of ethics and the Earth Charter in the needed paradigm shift.

Cormac posed the question “Are our current governance systems appropriate for to the challenges of this 21st Century and protect the ecologoical integrity of Earth’s ecosystems?”  In addressing the question, he spoke of the critical role of Rights of Nature.

The webinar is available at Earth Charter Webinar on Global Governance.  Please note, the webinar starts at 22 minutes into the recording.  Advance your cursor to the O mark on the recording time line to start viewing at the time the session starts.  Cormac is the first speaker.

Free Webinar! Global governance and environmental law: Wednesday May 22

Cormac Cullinan - SAB Environmentalist of the Year 2012On Wednesday, May 22nd at 3PM UTC/GMT, Earth Charter International and the EC Center for Education for Sustainable Development will be hosting a one and half hour webinar on international and environmental law and global governance with experts Peter Brown and Cormac Cullinan. These two leaders in their respective fields will put their work into context as well as relate the importance of the Earth Charter to their fields. Attendance is free for all and participation will be available through the chat function on our platform.

This webinar is a prelude to the executive programme called: International Law, Global Governance and the Earth Charter Principles. This programme is organized by the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and IUCN Academy of Environmental Law.

You can access the webinar at 3PM UTC/GMT  on May 22 through the following link (Please remember to check your local time):

http://earthcharter.wiziq.com/online-class/1247192-free-webinar-on-environmental-law-and-global-governance

And for more information, read here.

Please, pass this on to your friends, colleagues, and contacts and we hope to see you there!

Earth Charter International

Cormac Cullinan

Cormac Cullinan is a senior environmental lawyer and adviser on institutional, policy and regulatory reform in the fields of environment and natural resource management. His work in pioneering a legal philosophy that restores an ecological perspective to governance systems (Earth jurisprudence) is internationally recognised and in 2008 led to his inclusion in “Planet Savers: 301 Extraordinary Environmentalists”. He was admitted as an attorney in March 1989 and has specialised in environmental law since 1992 when he completed a Masters degree in environmental law at the University of London. With talents that include strong creative communication, writing, drafting and leadership skills, Cormac is known for developing practical and innovative approaches. He is an expert on international and South African environmental law and policy and acts for a wide range of public sector, private sector and NGO clients. Cormac is also a director of EnAct International, an honorary research associate of the Universtity of Cape Town, and a member of the IUCN Environmental Law Commission. Wide-ranging experience in policy formulation has given Cormac particular expertise in drafting legislation and international treaties as well as in designing and strengthening governance systems (including laws, policies and institutions). He has worked on these issues in more than 20 countries, including 10 in sub-Saharan Africa. In the academic field he has lectured and written widely on governance issues related to human interactions with the environment and is the author of Wild Law as well as of several works commissioned and published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.  He led the drafting of the 2010 Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.

Peter Brown

Peter BrownProfessor Brown’s teaching, research, and service are concerned with ethics, governance, and the protection of the environment.  His appointments at McGill are in the School of Environment, the Department of Geography, and the Department of Natural Resource Sciences. Before coming to McGill he was Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland’s graduate School of Public Affairs.  While at the University of Maryland he founded the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, as well as the School of Public Policy itself.  Professor Brown established the School’s Environmental Policy Programs to operate not only at the University’s College Park campus, but also at Maryland’s Department of the Environment, and at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He has held numerous administrative positions within the University of Maryland System.  He has taught at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, at the University of Washington, and at St. John’s College in Annapolis.   In the early 1970s, he was Visiting Fellow at Battelle Seattle Research Center and Assistant Vice President for Research Operations at The Urban Institute.  He is currently a Research Scholar at the Center for Humans and Nature. Professor Brown is the author of Restoring the Public Trust: A Fresh Vision for Progressive Government in America (Beacon Press, 1994), and Ethics, Economics, and International Relations: Transparent Sovereignty in the Commonwealth of Life (Edinburgh University Press, 2000); re-published in Canada by Black Rose Press (2001) as The Commonwealth of Life: A Treatise on Stewardship Economics. He is currently working on three new books.  One is tentatively entitled Reverence for Life: A Philosophy for Civilization which is intended as a sequel to Albert Schweitzer’s Philosophy of Civilization published  in the 1920s. He is also a co-author of a book on macro-economics entitled Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy. With Jeremy Schmidt he is co-editing and authoring sections of a volume tentatively entitled Water Ethics: The Moral Foundations of Natural Resource Policy.

Stepping stones – Tom Brenan reviews Exploring Wild Law

From Ecologist, by Tom Brenan

Tom Brenan discovers a wide range of voices from Earth law proponents around the world……

“In his preface to this collection of short articles, the editor Peter Burdon, says that the book is intended to be one step towards fulfilling Thomas Berry’s call for the Great Work ‘to carry out a transition from a period of human devastation of Earth to a time when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner’. While it is focused on law it also aims to appeal to those engaged in science, philosophy, religion and cultural studies.”

…”it is … a very important summary of Earth Jurisprudence’s evolution. Maybe the steps needed aren’t so big after all.”

Read Tom Brenan’s full review at TheEcologist, Stepping Stones

More about Exploring Wild Law from Wakefield Press:
Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence, Peter Burdon (ed.), Wakefield Press, 2011, ISBN 9781862549463
Exploring Wild Law The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence

Wild Law is a groundbreaking approach to law that stresses human dependence on nature. For the first time, this volume brings together voices from the leading proponents of wild law around the world.
Exploring Wild Law, The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence introduces readers to the idea of wild law and considers its relationship to environmental law, the rights of nature, science, religion, property law and international governance.

Compiled and edited by Peter Burdon, Exploring Wild Law is a collection of essays written by leaders in the field of Earth Jurisprudence! Among the authors are Thomas Berry, Ng’ang’a Thiong’o, Peter Burdon, Cormac Cullinan, Klaus Bosselmann, Linda Sheehan, Mari Margil, Judith E. Koons and many others.

Earth guidebook: Cullinan’s ‘Wild Law’

In response to the growing Rights of Nature movement in Vermont, including the proposed Rights of Nature amendment to the Vermont State Constitution, the Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT has published three articles:

Earth guidebook: Cullinan’s ‘Wild Law’ by Cormac Cullinan, includes excerpts from Cullinan’s “Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice”.  Cormac Cullinan is a South African Environmental Attorney.  A founding and Executive Team member of the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature, Cormac is a global advocate for Rights of Nature.

The law, Marx and Mother Earth by Free Press Staff Writer Joel Banner Baird details the Vermont movement to implement Rights of Nature in the State Constitution as proposed by Stephen Marx.

Earth Law’s long reach by Free Press Staff Writer Joel Banner Baird interviewing Linda Sheehan, Executive Director of the Earth Law Center and instructor of the Earth Law class at Vermont Law School.  Stephen Marx audited Sheehan’s class in 2012.

Cormac Cullinan SAB Environmentalist of the Year (2012)

Cormac Cullinan - SAB Environmentalist of the Year 2012Founding member of the Global Alliance and Executive Committee Cormac Cullinan has been awarded the  prestigious Nick Steele Memorial Award for Environmentalist of the Year (2012) at the 24th annual SAB Environmental Awards in Johannesburg. As an environmental and green business attorney, author, speaker, and climate justice advocate, Cormac has been an influential leader in the global Rights of Nature movement.  His book Wild Law. A manifesto for Earth Justice first published in 2002 presents the framework for transforming legal systems to align with the laws of Nature and recognize Rights of Nature.  In 2010, President Evo Morales invited Cormac to be a lead author of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.  Just in the last year, Cormac has been a keynote speaker for Rights of Nature events at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change COP17 in Durban, South Africa, the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,  the WildLaw Conference 2012 in Brisbane, Australia, and the Environmental Law Conference in Oslo, Norway. Cormac also prepared a draft People’s Charter for Africa.

The following is a Press Release announcing Cormac’s prestigious award.

CORMAC CULLINAN NAMED 2012 SAB ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE YEAR

Cormac Cullinan has been awarded the prestigious Nick Steele Memorial Award for Environmentalist of the Year (2012) at the 24th annual SAB Environmental Awards in Johannesburg.  Cormac is an author and practising environmental and green business attorney based in Cape Town. He is a director of the leading South African environmental law firm; Cullinan & Associates Inc. and of the governance consultancy EnAct International, and is a research associate of the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town.

Cormac is an author and practising environmental and green business attorney based in Cape Town. He is a director of the leading South African environmental law firm; Cullinan & Associates Inc. and of the governance consultancy EnAct International, and is a research associate of the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town.

Cormac has practised, taught and written about environmental law and policy since 1992 and has worked on environmental issues in more than 20 countries.   In 2008 he was listed among the world’s most extraordinary environmental champions in Planet Savers: 301 Extraordinary Environmentalists; which lists 301 people in history to be commended for their important role in saving and conserving the environment and promoting sustainable governance ranging from St Francis of Assisi to Al Gore.

Cormac’s ground-breaking book Wild Law. A manifesto for Earth Justice was published in 2002 by Siberink and has since been republished in the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy.  Wild Law recognises that humans are an integral part of a living system (Earth) and advocates transforming legal systems to align them with the laws of Nature, including by recognising legally enforceable rights for Nature.  These ideas have become increasingly influential globally with organisations dedicated to promoting wild law and Earth jurisprudence now well established in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Italy.  Cormac is also a founder and executive committee member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and led the drafting of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth that was adopted on 22 April 2010 by a World People’s Conference of 35,000 people in Bolivia.  He is frequently invited to address international audiences in many countries and has addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York (April 2011), the C40 Cities meeting in Hong Kong, and most recently, the 2012 “Festival of Dangerous Ideas” at the Sydney Opera House.

Cullinan and Associates Inc is the only South African law firm to be independently certified as having offset its carbon emission.  The firm actively promotes environmental protection by assisting companies to establish green businesses and to comply with environmental laws, and by taking important environmental cases.  Recently the firm successfully represented the City of Cape Town in securing an important Constitutional Court judgement that confirms that mining activities may not commence without land use planning approvals (the Maccsand case). Currently the firm is representing the Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) opposing fracking in the Karoo, the Thyspunt Alliance opposing the construction of a nuclear power at near Jeffries Bay and the amaMpondo communities fighting to prevent the construction of the N2 Wild Coast Toll Road through their ancestral lands.

Over the past 15 years EnAct has played an important role in developing the legal and policy framework for environmental protection in South Africa and neighbouring countries.  Cormac’s work has included leading the drafting of the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act, the Forests Protocol to the SADC Treaty and the Agreement between South Africa, Namibia and Angola that established the Benguela Current Commission to enable co-operative management of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

Cormac also prepared a draft People’s Charter for Africa that was taken around South Africa by the Climate Change Train prior to the COP17 climate change meeting in Durban.  He is committed to supporting the emergence of an Earth Democracy movement in South Africa that will enable all South Africans who love Africa to work together to create ecologically sustainable and socially just communities.

Cormac Cullinan was born and grew up in Pietermaritzburg, educated at the University of KwaZulu Natal and at Kings College, London and now lives with his wife Mary Ann Cullinan in Kenilworth Cape Town.  He has two sons, a step-son and two step-daughters.

UN Radio: Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature promotes its cause at Rio+20

More than 100 heads of State and government, along with thousands of people from civil society are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature is hoping that their cause will be taken up by Rio+20.

They are calling for global recognition and acceptance of Rights of Nature. They say 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.

Dianne Penn who is at Rio+20 spoke with Cormac Cullinan and Osprey Orielle Lake about their hopes for the UN Convention on Sustainable Development.

UN Radio - Global Alliance for Rights of Nature Rio

Click to access UN Radio Interview - then click Listen

Global Exchange Brings Rights of Nature to the 2012 Earth Summit (Rio+20)

by Shannon Biggs

In partnership with the Global Alliance, Shannon Biggs and Global Exchange will be a strong voice advocating Rights of Nature at 2012 Earth Summit Rio+20.  The following includes excerpts from Shannon’s blog of 7th June 2012.

Read her complete blog at Global Exchange Brings Rights of Nature to the 2012 Earth Summit (Rio+20)

So why should we care about the Rio+20 (years) Earth Summit this June?

Earth Rights Now For many activists currently packing their bags for Rio, the goal is to protest the “Green Economy”, the name given to the primary agenda for the Rio + 20 negotiators. What could be wrong with a Green Economy, you may ask? Haven’t environmental activists been promoting such a thing for years?

The Green Economy put forward by the United Nations Environment Program (nicknamed the “Greed Economy” by many) is about promoting the idea that we can only “save” nature by putting a price tag on what nature “does” for us. Proponents call it “ecosystem services” and from forests generating the air you breathe to the decomposition process resulting in the ground you walk upon, everything has its price, and corporations are wringing their hands with anticipation of what the Greed Economy could do for profit margins.

But the human connection to the rest of our living system is not contained in the calculation of the “flow of value to human societies.” Our Earth’s value is not merely that which serves people. You cannot put a dollar value on what is truly lost when island nations like the Maldives succumb to the rising tides of climate change, or when the seas themselves are void of fish—both of which are projected to occur in the next 50-100 years. So how is it possible to put a price on the system that governs all life, or break down an ecosystem into units of “service” and to what end?

Confronting the Greed Economy: The Rights of Nature goes to Rio

Rights of Nature: Planting Seeds of Real ChangeRights of Nature: Planting Seeds of Real Change report being released for Rio+20

Those of us working on the rights-of-nature framework are seeking to reconnect humanity with the rest of species. We seek to change human law that can only “see” nature as a thing — separate and apart from us, property to be owned and destroyed at will. We seek to change the law because our own salvation can only come from a cultural mindset enforced by an earth jurisprudence that we are a part of nature.

Global Exchange and our partners at the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN), a growing network we co-founded, don’t believe putting a price on nature is the path to protecting nature, and in fact is a faster-track to privatizing and commodifying nature. But we’re not showing up just to stand up for what we’re against, but to articulate what we’re for, and to build the movement for Rights for Nature. We’ll be blogging from Rio, convening strategy meetings with new allies, talking with media and unveiling our new report at a special panel and signing ceremony for the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

Rights of Nature Panel and Formal Signing Ceremony: Sunday June 17, 9:30am RioCentro T3

Rights of Nature Speakers:

·Nnimmo Bassey – Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth, Nigeria

· Shannon Biggs – Global Exchange, USA

· Cormac Cullinan – EnAct International, South Africa

· Tom Goldtooth – Indigenous Environmental Network, USA

· Natalia Greene – Fundación Pachamama, Ecuador

· Osprey Orielle Lake – Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus, USA

· Linda Sheehan – Earth Law Center, USA

· Dr. Vandana Shiva – Navdanya, India

· Pablo Solon – Focus on the Global South, Former Ambassador to the UN, Bolivia

The report directly confronts the notion of the Gree(d)n Economy of course, and is full of examples from around the world. But it is also a call out about what a true rights of nature framework would offer the world—and includes examples and updates of the growth of this movement, and new laws taking hold. And lastly, the report asks: if nature had rights, how different would our organizing look around water, Tar Sands extraction and Indigenous rights? And what would the economy look like? Contributors to the report include Dr. Vandana Shiva, Pablo Solon, Tom B.K. Goldtooth, Mari Margil and many others.

The report, Rights of Nature: Planting Seeds of Real Change will be available for free download from our website on June 15. Until then, we’ve selected two chapters for free preview and download now:

For more information on Global Exchange’s Community Rights Program and our international work advocating for Rights of Nature, please visit our website.

For a full calendar of Rights of Nature events at the upcoming Rio+20 Earth Summit, go here.

The Community Rights Program has entered a contest to win $5,000 towards advancing our work around engaging youth in the Rights of Nature movement! Please vote for our project on the Doing Good This Summer website. Voting begins Friday June 8th at 12pm and ends Friday June 29th at 12pm.

Read Shannon’s complete blog at Global Exchange Brings Rights of Nature to the 2012 Earth Summit (Rio+20)