Polly Higgins grew up near Loch Lomond on the west coast of Scotland and spent her childhood holidays in the Highlands. Her time with the Austrian artist and ecologist Hundertwasser in the late 1980’s taught her that nature is not an inert thing but a community of living beings; her years spent inside London courts representing individuals and corporations on discrimination cases brought her to the conclusion that the planet was also being treated unfairly, in particular by damaging corporate activity – but that nothing was being done to stop the abuse.

How to represent a client such as the planet? Children have rights in court (a Guardian is appointed to speak on their behalf) – surely we can do the same for the planet? Not so impossible if an abstract entity such as a corporation can be represented and have rights. What are our duties and responsibilities as humans to others, to non-humans? Lawyers talk of a ‘Duty of Care’ – but none exists for the planet. Corporations have evaded taking responsibility by being deemed in law a ‘fictional person,’ yet their rights to pollute, to emit, to destroy have caused enormous damage and destruction. Law has facilitated this disastrous anomaly, and law is now required to change it.

With all the advancement over the past 200 years we have become disconnected from caring for the planet and all it’s beings, and with that disconnect has brought disastrous consequences. Law has played a part in that. Time now to change the rules of the game.

Universal Declaration of Planetary Rights

In November 2008 Polly addressed the United Nations on her proposal for a Universal Declaration of Planetary Rights. Bolivia is now proposing a similar declaration be adopted, a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, by the United Nations. You can read more about this at treeshaverightstoo.com

Ecocide

Laws do not exist yet to prevent mass destruction of the planet. Ecocide is a second proposal by Polly to the United Nations. It is a proposal for Ecocide to be recognised as an international and national crime. You can read more about this at thisisecocide.com.

Book: Eradicating Ecocide

This is Polly’s first book. Polly is a regular speaker on the laws required to eradicate ecocide. Past conferences include the Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change, Anchorage April 2009, the Tallberg Forum, Sweden in June 2009 and in Copenhagen during the COP 15 Climate negotiations, at the People’s Climate Summit. More recent conferences include the World Forum of Spiritual Culture in Kazakhstan, October 2010. Details of forthcoming speaking events can be found on the home page.

In the news

Guardian: British campaigner urges UN to accept 'ecocide' as international crime

Podcasts

Schumacher College interview: Making Ecocide a Crime

Radio 4: Costing the Earth: Can Lawyers Save the World

Climate Radio: Ecocide & Environmental Law

Shorts

EJF at Hay Festival Maldives: A Legal Point of View

More information about Polly

Wikipedia

ad hoc blogs at The Lazy Environmentalist