Rights of Nature movements are rising and beginning to take root across the globe. There are 668 reported nature protective initiatives in 60 countries, including 179 in the U.S., according to the EcoJuisprudence Monitor. 

• • In 2006, Tamaqua Borough, Pennsylvania, banned the dumping of toxic sewage sludge as a violation of the Rights of Nature. Tamaqua is the first place in the world to recognize Rights of Nature in law. Since 2006, dozens of communities in ten states in the U.S. have enacted Rights of Nature laws. 
  • In 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to recognize the Rights of Nature in its national constitution. In 2011, the first Rights of Nature court decision was issued in the Vilcabamba River case in Ecuador, upholding the Rights of Nature constitutional provisions. 
  • In 2014, the first Rights of Nature state constitutional amendment was proposed in Colorado. Efforts are now advancing in Ohio, New Hampshire, Oregon, and other states. 
  • In 2017, the New Zealand Parliament finalized the Te Awa Tupua Act, granting the Whanganui River legal status as an ecosystem. 
  • In 2017, Lafayette, Colorado, enacted the first Climate Bill of Rights, recognizing rights of humans and nature to a healthy climate, and banning fossil fuel extraction as a violation of those rights. 
  • In 2017, Colorado River v. State of Colorado was filed in U.S. federal court. In this first-in-the-nation lawsuit, an ecosystem sought recognition of its legal rights. 
  • In 2018, the White Earth band of the Chippewa Nation adopted the “rights of the Manoomin” law securing legal rights of manoomin, or wild rice, a traditional staple crop of the Anishinaabe people. This is the first law to secure legal rights of a particular plant species.