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Mapping The Terrain Of Earth Jurisprudence: Landscape, Thresholds And Horizons, Anne Louise Schillmoller, Alessandro Pelizzon

Anne Schillmoller

Earth jurisprudence is an emerging area of law in which the integrity and health of ecosystems become a central concern of human legal and political institutions. In recent years, several countries have proposed constitutional reforms which mandate legal recognition of ecosystems’ ‘right to exist’. In September 2008 Ecuador became the first country in the world to declare constitutional ‘rights of nature’ and to codify a new system of environmental governance. The new laws grant citizens the right to sue on behalf of an ecosystem, even if not injured themselves. As one of the architects of this new legal framework observed, …