The Wild Law Institute is part of a worldwide movement that is advancing and defending the Rights of Nature.
As of early 2025, there are over 540 laws and legal provisions at local to national levels in 40 countries that recognize or enforce these rights.
We are part of a worldwide movement that is advancing and defending the Rights of Nature.
The Wild Law Institute and its allies within the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) advocate for the legal recognition of the rights of all of Nature as a basis for building ecologically sustainable and just societies.
Our alliance consists of indigenous and local peoples, organisations and individuals from around the world who are united in their love for Earth, and determination to work for, rather than against, the community of life.
The Global Alliance For The Rights of Nature
The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) is an alliance of organisations, communities and individuals committed to the universal adoption and implementation of legal systems that recognize, respect and enforce Rights of Nature.
The members of GARN are united by the belief that human societies will not be ecologically viable in the long term unless humans reorient themselves from an exploitative and ultimately self-destructive relationship with Nature, to one that honours the deep interrelation of all life and contributes to the health and integrity of the Earth Community.
Rights of Nature in their Constitution
In 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to enshrine the Rights of Nature in its Constitution as a means to achieve living well in harmony within Nature or Pacha Mama. The Constitution's "Rights of Nature" ensures the "maintenance and regeneration of nature's life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes" and calls for "all persons, communities, peoples and nations" to protect this right. This constitutional provision has been implemented through the court system, where Ecuadorian courts have upheld the rights of Nature in many cases dealing with various environmental issues, such as obstruction of the flow of rivers and mining projects that threaten wild species.
National Environmental Act
In 2019, Uganda became the first African country to recognise Rights of Nature as part of its National Environmental Act. This act states that “Nature has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution".
Whanganui River and Mount Taranaki
The Parliament of Aotearoa/New Zealand has passed legislation recognising the Whanganui River as a legal person and the area that was formerly the Te Urewera national park as a legal entity with “all the rights, powers, duties and liabilities of a legal person".
The New Zealand Parliament also passed the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill, granting legal personhood to Mount Taranaki and surrounding peaks under the name Te Kāhui Tupua, recognizing the mountain as "a living and indivisible whole" with the same rights and responsibilities as a person, governed by local Māori iwi and government-appointed members.