‘Nature rights’ is quickly becoming a matter of left-wing dogma.
Panama has proposed that the U.N. General Assembly negotiate and adopt a “Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature.” From the press release:
In a historic development, the Government of Panama and For Nature have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly advance the adoption of a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature before the United Nations General Assembly, marking a significant milestone in the growing global movement to recognize ecosystems and species as rights-bearing entities.
The initiative is being funded in full by the Alfred Kobacker and Elizabeth Trimbach Fund (AKET Fund) in partnership with the National Geographic Society, reflecting a commitment to accelerate this emerging global framework at a moment when it is most urgently needed.
The nature rights movement is now thoroughly ensconced within the establishment and among the ruling elite. This agenda is being funded by the National Geographic Society. The AKET Fund is also pushing it. It doesn’t get more mainstream than that, which means that millions are going to be spent in the coming years promoting the idea of granting nature — which is everything that exists — the rights “to exist, persist, regenerate, and be restored,” among other liberties. Rivers, for example, are to be given the “right to flow.”
The goals of the movement are to subvert property rights, destroy fossil fuel industries, undermine market capitalism, and establish a neo-pagan earth religion that relies on “indigenous knowledge.” The effects will diminish human freedom and undermine economic thriving.
I think that destitute areas of the world — often rich in resources — will be particularly hard-hit when timber, minerals, oil, and other commodities become off-limits because of these things’ supposed rights to exist and thrive. And what a boon for China if we self-hobble in this way! That country would never be so stupid as to grant rights to nature. It won’t even grant them to people.
If the U.N. General Assembly passes the resolution — does anyone think it won’t? — the next step will be to negotiate the declaration’s terms:
If the resolution passes in December, two co-facilitators — one from a developed country and one from a developing country — would guide governments through drafting and negotiation, with Panama aiming for a proposal by 2030, according to Callie Veelenturf, a marine conservation biologist whose foundation forNature is supporting the initiative.
Alarm bells should be ringing, but they remain silent. The potential harm to human thriving and to our self-perception as an exceptional species cannot be overstated. In Panama, a copper mine worth $1o billion was already ordered shuttered by the country’s supreme court because it allegedly violates the rights of nature. I guess the miners and ore processors who are now out of their jobs don’t count as part of nature.
“Nature rights” is quickly becoming a matter of left-wing dogma, so don’t be surprised if it becomes part of the formal platform of a socialist-dominated Democratic Party. It’s already a plank in the Florida Democratic Party’s platform. Meanwhile, a Green Party member of the U.K. House of Lords recently introduced an authoritarian nature rights bill that is gaining steam across the pond.
And for those who complacently yawn and say it will never happen, it already is: Rivers, a mountain, glaciers, and waves, trees, and bees — among other aspects of the natural world — have been granted rights in certain jurisdictions.
My only question is: When will people who are capable of understanding the danger going to start taking the threat seriously and push back? Its advocates are energized, well financed, and supported at the highest levels of society. That’s precisely how radical change happens — which is not a synonym for progress.