Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
that the Copenhagen process was an important
milestone in the huge cultural transition which
is continuing to gather momentum (Cullinan,
2009).
There is a movement in Latin America around
“The Rights of Mother Earth” pioneered by
Ecuador and Bolivia. The Bolivians supported
by at least nine other Caribbean and Latin
American countries are arguing that the reason
why we have climate change and a host of
environmental and social issues is that most
political systems (whether based on capitalism
or socialism) are inherently destructive
because they do not take account of the needs
to strike a balance between the interests of
humans and those of other members of the
Earth community (Cullinan 2009).
Ecuador is exceptional in opting to make
a fundamental change to the architecture
of its governance system by recognising
rights of Nature and redefining its concept of
development. There the existence of a large
number of people who had not wholly adopted
Western consumerist values, appears to have
been a crucial factor in securing the recognition
of the rights of nature in the Constitution.
Calls for a Universal Declaration of the Rights
of Mother Earth to the United Nations indicate
the potential for these ideas to spread rapidly.
“In Latin America thus ‘defend the rights
of Mother Earth’ is a battle cry not only for
environmental protection but also for social
justice and freedom from destructive cultural
imperialism (Cullinan, 2009).
“They point out that in the same way that a
leaf will only flourish if it is part of a healthy
plant growing in fertile, well-watered soil,
so individual human wellbeing can only be
sustained by building healthy communities
within healthy ecological communities. This
traditional wisdom is as valid today as it ever
was. Human rights are meaningless and
cannot be sustained if Earth has no rights. The
right to life is an empty slogan without food and
water which can only be provided by the Earth”
(Cullinan, 2009)
This movement appears to understand
that mindless pursuit of GDP growth and
material accumulation is a fatally defective
developmental model. Recognising that the
community of life which sustains us has a right
to integrity and health and enforcing those
rights is a precondition to maintaining healthy
human communities, not a competing interest
(Cullinan, 2009)
Ecuador’s Constitution which aspires to “Living
Well” is a strong indicator that a centuriesold
logjam in legal and political thinking and
practice is beginning to break-up. Pioneering
work is being done around the world to replace
laws and governance systems that facilitate
the exploitation of Earth with systems based
on the recognition that human well-being is
a consequence of the well-being of the Earth
systems that sustain us.
The reasons why legal systems are failing to
protect the Earth community is because they
reflect the underlying beliefs that humans are
separate from, and superior to, all other-thanhuman
members of Earth whose primary role
is to serve as “natural resources” for humans
to consume. These beliefs are demonstrably
false. Humans are of course, but one of many
species of mammal that have co-evolved
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