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- “Explain” sustainability (keywords: planetary boundaries, pillars model, Pachamama / Buen
Vivir / Rights of Mother Earth, Agenda 2030, SDGs, participation as an important factor for
sustainability); Do we consider humans separate from nature or as part of it?
- “Explain” democracy (keywords: rule of majority, negotiation)
- How do democracy and sustainability influence each other?
- Can it make sense to undermine fundamental rights for the sake of sustainability?
- Briefly mention that there are different forms of participation from easy or small ones to big
ones etc.
- Mention that sustainability is already included in some constitutions
- Broader concept of education: informing oneself, informing others, it is important to know how to get involved, asking for different perspectives

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- Populist movements, evangelical movements, or others that use supposed nature conservation to establish "right-wing" communities
- Front line defenders; “Show” how activists or local communities empower and resist
- One principle of democracy is freedom of expression>> possibility to promote sustainability
- How is civil society "hindered" by bureaucratic means (difficulty in getting donations, non-profit status withdrawn, accounts closed, etc.) and serious threats (murder, etc.); briefly
introduce the keyword “Shrinking space”
- Positive example of how the space is used that the society has (grassroots movements, processes of change)
- Take up advocacy work and policy dialogue in the framework of the examples of participation
- Lobbying, lobbying associations weaken civil society
- Take up corruption as a topic in this module?

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- Who needs to sit at the table? (means: Who needs to be part of decision-making processes?)
Who do we need for which things? Who has access difficulties? What positive examples already exist?
1. Who is missing in formal contexts? (e.g. parliaments etc.)
2. Who is missing in the movements?
- Intergenerational dialogue (When it comes to decisions concerning the future, youth must be at the table)
- What are the basic requirements for participation? Why do some people not participate? How can we get them on board? (Keyword "empowerment", but empowerment can also be
a cross-cutting topic in the manual) Who do we not perceive and why? "Who is not visible, is not there".
- Name 3-4 examples of “groups” who have difficulties participating and give also positive examples and mention, that we can’t mention all marginalized people/groups (possibilities: young people – Fridays for future, Indigenous people and/or indigenous women, refugees,
women, LGBTQ, socially or educationally disadvantaged people); participation of rural society

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- Resource equity, access to resources, exploitation of resources
- How can people be involved?
- How can democratic processes contribute to the protection of resources?
- To what extent does climate change / unsustainable governance endanger democracy?
- What are common goods? What should be common goods? Should there be a price?
- Commons, Allmende
- Maybe an example of the inclusion of sustainability in the constitution (e.g. Ecuador); critical
questioning: only inclusion in the law is not necessarily enough (see Yasuní)
- Awareness building to point out what is happening and what possibilities there are to act
against it, what rights one has
- Extractivism
- Climate crisis
- Climate resilience
- Energy transition

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- What forms of economy are needed?
- More democratic forms of economy: e.g. cooperatives, share economy (sharing, exchanging, repairing)
- Economy for the common good
- Community supported agriculture
- Ethical investment
- Degrowth
- maybe Fair Trade, Supply Chain Management
- Land grabbing
- Multinational companies benefiting from gaps (in laws) in other countries
- Postcolonialism, colonial continuities

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- What role do media and information technologies play? (opinion-forming etc.); digital self-determination, Who has access to which data? Fake news, defamation (and Hate Crime and Hate Speech)
- How can digital formats promote or influence democracy and sustainability?; Formats of digital democracy, e.g. democratization process via social media, petition, a digital tool to support communities
- Restriction of the internet, freedom of the press, equalization of the press
- Resources in digitalization (many resources needed >> not sustainable)
- Monopolisation; some big players (e.g. Google) and a few of them with their own guidelines

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- How do I want to live?
- Designing your own living space/surrounding/community/city
- Vision workshop
- Handprint

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Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threat to democracy.

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Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threat to democracy.

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The threat of democracy in the use of private date to manipulate individual (and, therefore, mases) decision-making

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Carole Cadwalladr: Facebook's role in Brexit -- and the threat to democracy

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In an unmissable talk, journalist Carole Cadwalladr digs into one of the most perplexing events in recent times: the UK's super-close 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

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Democracy in the digital age: Robin Sontheimer at TEDxDelftRobin

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Democracy in the digital age: Robin Sontheimer at TEDxDelftRobin

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Democracy in the digital age: Robin Sontheimer at TEDxDelft

Sontheimer is a 'strategic designer' studying at TU Delft, currently writing his Master’s Thesis on new ways of political participation. His favorite question is 'why...?' and he believes that if nowadays everything is possible, the opposite is too. In the video, he shares his views on how digital tools can provide alternative participation mechanisms for democratic decision-making.

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Democracy in the digital age: Robin Sontheimer at TEDxDelft

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Fake news is about to get much worse. Here's a solution | Aviv Ovadya | TEDxMileHigh. 

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Fake news is about to get much worse. Here's a solution | Aviv Ovadya | TEDxMileHigh. 

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Fake news as a challenge for democracy and sustainability

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Moldova recently held elections for mayor of its capital city. A few weeks before, a video was posted to social media. It appeared to show a news broadcast in Arabic, from Al Jazeera. According to the Moldovan subtitles, one of the candidates for mayor wanted to lease the capital to the Prince of Abu Dhabi for 50 years. Those subtitles, it turned out, didn't, in any way, match what was actually in Arabic. The video itself was also manipulated to match the bogus translation. It was eventually debunked, but even this simplistic fake was shared over half a million times in a country with a population of less than 4 million. Our civilization is built upon our ability to distinguish fact from fiction. Think about it. What would happen to our communities, our businesses, our governments if we can't trust what we read, hear, or see? What we know, what we believe to be true determines how we act, how we elect our leaders, how we make decisions, change policies, and start wars. But soon, things are about to get real weird. Right now, as I'm talking to you, the technology exists to steal your voice from previous recordings so I can make it sound as if you said anything I wanted you to. We're entering an era in which our enemies can make it look like anyone is saying anything at any point in time even if they would never say those things, but someone else would. Someone ... like Jordan Peele. So I can take a video of you and replace all of your facial expressions with those of another person so that it looks like you are speaking, frowning, and shouting along with that fake voice. I can even have that fake you appear to interact with a real environment of an existing video. And then I can create a social media army of automated accounts to spread this video, complete with realistic photos of people who have never existed. I'm a technologist in engineering, and I find this incredible and terrifying. Welcome to the world of AI-assisted audio and video manipulation - to the world of what is now called Deep Fakes. All this was possible before, with skilled actors and enormous production budgets, but it could soon be as easy as downloading an app. So I got my first degree from MIT in 2009, and even before then, I've been wrestling with techno social demons - sort of walking this fine line between loving new tech and curiosity about its negative impacts. And in May 2016, this became all-consuming. I connected some dots that deeply concerned me. It seemed that the extent of online misinformation was not only growing, but that all the incentives were aligned to make this a much, much bigger problem very quickly. I felt like I was watching an epidemic, except no hospitals were even aware of the problem - not to mention actually trying to slow the outbreak. I decided I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least try to get Facebook and friends to address this growing threat. I dropped my technology consulting work, found allies, and focused on this. Over two years later, and companies are finally taking these problems seriously, but the epidemic of misinformation is evolving into an even more dangerous strain. Consider for a moment how someone might use deep fakes for money or mayhem. We can use recent history as a guide - and I don't just mean the U.S. 2016 election. There were nine lynchings in Indonesia shortly after a rumor spread online about kidnappers. False Facebook posts tore apart Muslim and Hindu communities in Sri Lanka and enabled ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. How much worse could it be when a provocateur can easily create video proof that a rumor is true. Or will criminals walk free because they can claim that a real video was manipulated? What happens when a significant chunk of the population just doesn't trust anything, because anything important can be believably faked. It's not the one-off fakes that we should worry about the most, it's the way this technology is a threat multiplier. It can increase the overall level of outrage, hatred, and violence in a world full of powder kegs just waiting for a spark. And at the same time, this tech weakens our ability to contain any explosion. When people can't discern reality, it's hard to govern, to use diplomacy. Whether you're concerned about climate change or pandemics, Skynet or drug lords, you know that countries need to work together to address global challenges. But how can we work together if we can't trust anything? OK, by now, I've probably perhaps terrified you. I'm sorry about that. (Laughter) You need to know, but our market for reality could fail. Dystopia isn't fully inevitable, though. We can still prevent the worst outcomes - if we start now. But what can we do? The natural thing to do about fakery is to create detection systems. Unfortunately, in the long run, this may not work. The easier fakes are to detect, the faster it is to train an AI to make an even more convincing fake. Forgers are likely to win this battle in the end. That said, it is a very useful step for now. But even the best detection systems alone won't change the impact of a fake video, and some evidence suggests that the obvious idea of labeling fakes can backfire. So what's a more comprehensive way to think about this? Well, the goal here is not to stop all fakery. It's to prevent our institutions from crossing over that threshold into so much failure that they can't even function, to avoid tipping into infopocalypse. To do that, we need to shore up the marketplace of ideas. We need to keep the ROI of fakery as low as possible and ensure that reality stays impactful. This means protecting our knowledge pipeline, addressing that flow of information from creation to distribution, to belief, to action. How easy is it to create a manipulated or a real video, to distribute that video so people actually see it. What impacts whether or not we believe the video? What determines if we take actions based on our beliefs? If I was to go through each step of this pipeline and all the things we can do to try to impact it, that would be 15 more talks, so not going to do that today. Instead, let me use an example to illustrate how we can think about creation and distribution so I can show you the kinds of thinking we can bring to the table. Let's pretend that Steve wants to discredit a politician, Lucy. Steve wants to make a video showing Lucy admitting to blatant corruption. The first that we can consider is creation. We can't stop this technology from existing, but we can make it harder to create fakes for malicious ends. What if investors, engineers, even app stores decided they didn't want to enable deep fake technology? If it only took Steve a few taps to download and use an app to create that fake video of Lucy, he's far more likely to do it. Making it just a little harder to create a fake is not gonna stop the Kremlin. It won't stop anyone with a computer who really wants to manipulate video, but it might help in Myanmar or any other country where most people just have phones. And even small obstacles to usage can have a significant impact on what people actually do. We also need to make it easier for a witness to film a real video of corruption and show that it's real. Camera and phone companies can help here. We may be able to make authenticity infrastructure that lets people prove where and when a recording was captured. But OK, now that our corruption video has been created, either fake or real, what determines who sees it? Distribution platforms. This means social networks, video uploading sites, messaging systems, recommendation engines, and all of the ways that these sorts of things can be manipulated. This is all about the incentives, and right now in our world, sensationalism is rewarded because it attracts attention, it makes money, manipulates beliefs, and it drives people to act. A convincing fake can be naturally viral. Wouldn't you click on a video of Trump or Clinton taking a bribe? A platform like YouTube shouldn't stop people from being curious, but it can try to ensure that it doesn't recommend sensationalism and forgery more than reality. And it can invest in systems to recognize and reward good actors over bad. This is also where that forgery detection and authenticity infrastructure that I mentioned earlier can help, and more traditional journalism and fact-checking. (Applause) So after our video is distributed, then the audience either believes it and acts on it, or they don't. Here we need to involve almost every aspect of society, from actors to diplomats and especially teachers. There are a lot of minefields here. We're going to need to make some very tough calls on what a healthy ecosystem looks like. These proposals are far from perfect. Some may even be worse than the original problem. We have to keep our eye on the prize - functioning civilization, functioning democracy - and ensure we have the checks and balances in place to facilitate that. And one thing that can help with creating those checks and balances is integrating responsibility into our processes and our organizations. Researchers and technologists have repeatedly messed up - badly. We built systems that have caused immense harm and have only acknowledged a problem long after the damage has been done. This can't keep happening; what we create has tremendous impact, and the good doesn't always outweigh the bad. Companies like Google already have dedicated security teams. They make sure that your data isn't hacked, and they have power. They can say to any team, "You need to fix this now," and stop a product from being rolled out to billions of people. We need this for more than just security. Every company that has a significant impact on public discourse should have well resourced and empowered teams 100% focused on identifying the ways that their systems can have negative impacts. (Applause) Individual product teams can also have impact advisory boards. The goal would be to involve external experts in different regions that could be consulted, as a product changes and as the world changes, to answer that question: "How might things go horribly wrong?" We need similar support for responsibility in AI research. If we want companies and researchers to be responsible, we can't just hope they are going to magically understand the complex consequences of new technology. We need to ensure that they have the incentives, the infrastructure, and the resources to make responsibility possible. I could go on, but look, I got just one goal here today, and that is to tell you not to trust anything you see or hear, just like my favorite news outlet, RT QUESTIONMORE. No, RT, as in Russia today, a Russian propaganda channel. No, of course, that is not my goal. If we don't trust anything, the manipulators win. Democracy requires trust. As I give this talk, all of this AI technology is not out of the lab yet. It's far from perfect; we have some time. My real goal is to ensure that we prepare ... now; that we work to improve the ways that we distinguish what's real and what's not; that we create crucial new institutions, technology, and governance; that we make reality as easy, efficient, and incentivized as possible. Thank you. (Applause)

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Transcript of "Fake news is about to get much worse. Here's a solution | Aviv Ovadya | TEDxMileHigh"

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TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript: What happens when we can no longer trust what we see or what we hear? Advanced video & audio technologies once reserved for Hollywood blockbusters are taking fake news to a whole new level. Aviv Ovadya, Chief Technologist at the Center for Social Media Responsibility, has solutions.

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very good podcast, unfortunately only in German, from Louisa Neubauer, one of the Voices of Fridays for Future, on Democracy, climate change, youth participation

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1,5 Grad - der Klima-Podcast mit Luisa Neubauer

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Listen to 1,5 Grad - der Klima-Podcast mit Luisa Neubauer on Spotify. Die Klimakrise ist hier. Wir haben alle Fakten, die wir brauchen, um gegen sie anzukämpfen. In Deutschland haben wir dafür sogar politische Mehrheiten. Wie kommen wir als Gesellschaft endlich ins Handeln? Im Spotify-Original Podcast "1,5 Grad" gibt Luisa Neubauer Antworten auf diese Frage.

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Article: Democracy and sustainability: A lesson learned from modern nature conservation

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Article: Democracy and sustainability: A lesson learned from modern nature conservation

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Citation:
Clausen, Laura Tolnov & Hansen, Hans Peter & Tind, Espen. (2010). Democracy and sustainability: A lesson learned from modern nature conservation. 229-247.

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Universal declaration of the rights of rivers 

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Universal declaration of the rights of rivers 

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SIGN THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF RIVERS

To: Government officials at the municipal, state, provincial, and national level

We, the undersigned, urge you to stand with a growing international movement to protect rivers, freshwater ecosystems, and all who depend upon them for their lives and livelihoods.

You can do so by seeing to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Rivers in your country's laws and ensuring its adoption results in the vital protections it guarantees.

Given the alarming degradation of rivers globally and the resulting harms to the climate, wildlife, public health, and local economies, we urge you to act without delay.
The declaration states that all rivers are: And that:

These rights shall extend to the health of watersheds and river basins.

Indigenous communities will be represented in river guardianship.

All states will implement these rights and provide the resources necessary to ensure they are realized.

More than 100 organizations from more than 20 countries have so far endorsed The Declaration.

ADD YOUR NAME

We will never sell or swap your personal information with anyone else. We will only share your contact info with the organizations of your choosing if you give us permission to do so. Read more about how we use your information at RightsOfRivers.org/Privacy

AEMS-Ríos con Vida

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

"Amici del torrente Alberone" Committee

Animals Are Sentient Beings, Inc.

Asociación Ambiental E Cultrual Petón Do Lobo

Association of Friends of Ina and Gowienica Rivers

Bulat Yessekin GWP Central Asia, Mongolia and Caucasus

Centar za zivotnu sredinu/Center for Environment

Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North

COMITÊ DE DEFESA DA VIDA AMAZONICA NA BACIA DO RIO MADEIRA

Curator, Water Literacy

Dodder Action

Earth Thrive

Eco-TIRAS International Association of River Keepers

Ecological Center Dront Eurasian National University

Foundation for Conservation of Nigerian Rivers

Fundacion Plantae

Friends of the Baltic non-profit Environmental Organization

Friends of the Siberian Forests - Russia

Global Pact Coalition

GWP Central Asia, Mongolia and Caucasus

Huerto Roma Verde

Initiative for Climate Action

IRIKEFE V. Dafe, Foundation for Conservation of Nigerian Rivers

Kiva Kumbha Mela 2019

Lagan Rivers Trust

Litigio Estratégico Indígena

Mekong Kayaks

Naciones Unidas del Espíritu

NGO "Kyubeye", Yakutia

Olga Senova, Friends of the Baltic non-profit environmental organization, Russia, Baltic Sea basin

Organizatorom to Save nature"Samokov"

Pachamama Alliance

People and Nature Reconciliation

Plataforma de Toledo en Defensa del Tajo

Project Lake Baikal Expedition

Rak Chiang Kong Group

Rights of Nature Sweden

riverbangla

RiverWatch

Save the Colorado: Colorado River Waterkeeper Network

Scientists4Mekong

Survivors of Lesotho Dams

Synchronicity Earth

The Gaia Foundation

Union for Defence of the Aral Sea and Amudarya

Wolne Rzeki

Yarra Riverkeeper Association

Спиридонова Людмила Михайловна

African Biodiversity Network (ABN)

Amigos E Amigas Dos Bosques "O Ouriol Do Anllóns"

Aqua Happiness

Asociación Galega Cova Crea

BE.TIME Andalusian Non-Profit Cooperative Society

Biodiversity Conservation Center

Bomenridders Groningen

Carlos Zorrilla DECOIN Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag

Center for Creative Ecologies

Chile Sustentable

Comitato Terre S.Giovanni

Consejo de Visiones

Department of Sociology and Social Policy, The University of Sydney

Earth Advocacy Youth

EarthLore - South Africa and Zimbabwe

Ecoaldea Huehuecoyotl

Ecological Initiative BURENCO-plus

Endangerd Habitats League

Evgeny Orlov, IKC Strix, Nizny Novgorod, RF

Forum Diritti Natura

Foundation of Sami heritage and Development

Friends of the Gatineau River

Frontera Water Protection Alliance

GRABE-Benin - Benin

Halda River Conservation Committee

Jamessira Centre for Development

Id*eau, imagination durable pour l'eau douce

Itelmen Inigenous Community

La casa de la Ixtli

Lawyers for Nature

Legambiente Piacenza

Lo INSTITUTO MADEIRA VIVO-IMV

Lynn Canal Conservation

Mexican Institute of Water Technology

Movement for Ecological Learning and Community Action (MELCA) - Ethiopia

Nature's Rights

Notre Affaire à Tous

Orca Network

Pacto Mundial Consciente

Planet Politics Institute

Project Maje

Poets for the Peace

Public movement in defense of the Volga river "Let's help the river"

River Collective

Rio Grande Restoration

Rivers without Boundaries International Coalition

Rotary International

Sakhalin Environment Watch

Save the Tigris Campaign

Snoqualmie Community Action Network

Society for Alternative Learning and Transformation (SALT) - Kenya

The Organizing Committee of the Animal Protection party

USArchive & Imaging Services, Inc.

Youth and Environment Europe

Yurok Tribe

African Institute for Culture and Ecology (AFRICE) - Uganda

Arctic Consult - Norway

Arts In Color

Asociación Quisca

Bufete para Pueblos Indígenas

Bios Argentina

Cartagena Araoz

Center for Cultural Heritage of Indigenous Peoples of the North

Circolo Legambiente Gli Amici del Lago

Colectivo Mura De Porto Velho

Convener, National River Conservation Movement, BAPA

Derechos de la Madre Tierra México

Earth Law Center

EarthRights International

EcoBirth-Women for Earth and Birth

Equipo de Trabajo por Derechos Colectivos

Familia Vrinda

Forum For Better Bapatla

Freshwater Life

Friends of the Siberian Forests

GegenStroemung - CounterCurrent / INFOE e. V.

Huaynakana Kamatahuara kana - The Federation of Indigenous Kukama Women of the Samiria and Marañón Rivers

International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity "Batani"

Kazakhstan Farmer Foundation

La Red Pantanal

Lipetsk Socio-ecological UnionВалерий Королев

Local Association of Public Associations of Indigenous Minorities of the North of the Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets Municipal District of Russia

Movement Rights

Network of Thai Mekong People in 8 provinces

Nepal Water Conservation Foundation

O Ouriol do Anllóns

Open-Source

P C Sai Babu, Forum For Better Bapatla

Peace Valley Landowner Association

Presentation Sisters NL

Pure Inspirations

Renacimiento Mexicano

River Ethiope Trust Foundation

Riverine People

Rivers without Boundaries Mongolia

Russian Social-Ecological Union / Friends of the Earth Russia

Salviamo il Paesaggio Valdossola

Save the coastalpeople- SCOPE

Save the Zambezi

Tajik Social and Ecological Union

The Spokane Ecosocialist

Watershed Watch Salmon Society

Water Justice - Justicia Hídrica Alliance

Валерий Королев, Липецкий социально-экологический союз

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF RIVERS

PREAMBLE

AWARE that all people, including indigenous communities and other local communities of all spiritual faiths, have long held through their traditions, religions, customs, and laws that nature (often called "Mother Earth") is a rights-bearing entity, and that rivers in particular are sacred entities possessing their own fundamental rights,

CONVINCED that recognizing the rights of nature, and in particular recognizing those river rights contained in this Declaration, will foster the creation of a new legal and social paradigm based on living in harmony with nature and respecting both the rights of nature and human rights, particularly with reference to the urgent needs of indigenous communities and the ecosystems they have long protected.

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To: Government officials at the municipal, state, provincial, and national level We, the undersigned, urge you to stand with a growing international movement to protect rivers, freshwater ecosystems, and all who depend upon them for their lives and livelihoods.

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UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH

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UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH

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Printable PDF of Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth
Click to sign our petition in support of Rights of Mother Earth

From World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth,
Cochabamba, Bolivia, 22 April - Earth Day 2010.

Preamble

We, the peoples and nations of Earth:

considering that we are all part of Mother Earth, an indivisible, living community of interrelated and interdependent beings with a common destiny;

gratefully acknowledging that Mother Earth is the source of life, nourishment and learning and provides everything we need to live well;

recognizing that the capitalist system and all forms of depredation, exploitation, abuse and contamination have caused great destruction, degradation and disruption of Mother Earth, putting life as we know it today at risk through phenomena such as climate change;

convinced that in an interdependent living community it is not possible to recognize the rights of only human beings without causing an imbalance within Mother Earth;

affirming that to guarantee human rights it is necessary to recognize and defend the rights of Mother Earth and all beings in her and that there are existing cultures, practices and laws that do so;

conscious of the urgency of taking decisive, collective action to transform structures and systems that cause climate change and other threats to Mother Earth;

proclaim this Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, and call on the General Assembly of the United Nation to adopt it, as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations of the world, and to the end that every individual and institution takes responsibility for promoting through teaching, education, and consciousness raising, respect for the rights recognized in this Declaration and ensure through prompt and progressive measures and mechanisms, national and international, their universal and effective recognition and observance among all peoples and States in the world.
Article 1. Mother Earth
(1) Mother Earth is a living being.

(2) Mother Earth is a unique, indivisible, self-regulating community of interrelated beings that sustains, contains and reproduces all beings.

(3) Each being is defined by its relationships as an integral part of Mother Earth.

(4) The inherent rights of Mother Earth are inalienable in that they arise from the same source as existence.

(5) Mother Earth and all beings are entitled to all the inherent rights recognized in this Declaration without distinction of any kind, such as may be made between organic and inorganic beings, species, origin, use to human beings, or any other status.

(6) Just as human beings have human rights, all other beings also have rights which are specific to their species or kind and appropriate for their role and function within the communities within which they exist.

(7) The rights of each being are limited by the rights of other beings and any conflict between their rights must be resolved in a way that maintains the integrity, balance and health of Mother Earth.
Article 2. Inherent Rights of Mother Earth
(1) Mother Earth and all beings of which she is composed have the following inherent rights:

(a) the right to life and to exist;

(b) the right to be respected;

(c) the right to regenerate its bio-capacity and to continue its vital cycles and processes free from human disruptions;

(d) the right to maintain its identity and integrity as a distinct, self-regulating and interrelated being;

(e) the right to water as a source of life;

(f) the right to clean air;

(g) the right to integral health;

(h) the right to be free from contamination, pollution and toxic or radioactive waste;

(i) the right to not have its genetic structure modified or disrupted in a manner that threatens its integrity or vital and healthy functioning;

(j) the right to full and prompt restoration for violation of the rights recognized in this Declaration caused by human activities;

(2) Each being has the right to a place and to play its role in Mother Earth for her harmonious functioning.

(3) Every being has the right to wellbeing and to live free from torture or cruel treatment by human beings.
Article 3. Obligations of human beings to Mother Earth
(1) Every human being is responsible for respecting and living in harmony with Mother Earth.

(2) Human beings, all States, and all public and private institutions must:

(a) act in accordance with the rights and obligations recognized in this Declaration;

(b) recognize and promote the full implementation and enforcement of the rights and obligations recognized in this Declaration;

(c) promote and participate in learning, analysis, interpretation and communication about how to live in harmony with Mother Earth in accordance with this Declaration;

(d) ensure that the pursuit of human wellbeing contributes to the wellbeing of Mother Earth, now and in the future;

(e) establish and apply effective norms and laws for the defence, protection and conservation of the rights of Mother Earth;

(f) respect, protect, conserve and where necessary, restore the integrity, of the vital ecological cycles, processes and balances of Mother Earth;

(g) guarantee that the damages caused by human violations of the inherent rights recognized in this Declaration are rectified and that those responsible are held accountable for restoring the integrity and health of Mother Earth;

(h) empower human beings and institutions to defend the rights of Mother Earth and of all beings;

(i) establish precautionary and restrictive measures to prevent human activities from causing species extinction, the destruction of ecosystems or the disruption of ecological cycles;

(j) guarantee peace and eliminate nuclear, chemical and biological weapons;

(k) promote and support practices of respect for Mother Earth and all beings, in accordance with their own cultures, traditions and customs;

(l) promote economic systems that are in harmony with Mother Earth and in accordance with the rights recognized in this Declaration.
Article 4. Definitions
(1) The term "being" includes ecosystems, natural communities, species and all other natural entities which exist as part of Mother Earth.

(2) Nothing in this Declaration restricts the recognition of other inherent rights of all beings or specified beings.

To show your support for the Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth, please click the FaceBook Like icon!

Thank you!

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Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth - The Rights of Nature

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April 22, 2010 World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth Cochabamba, Bolivia Printable PDF of Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth Click to sign our petition in support of Rights of Mother Earth From World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Cochabamba, Bolivia,Continue Reading Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth

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Germany’s supreme constitutional court has ruled that the government’s climate protection measures are insufficient to protect future generations, after a complaint brought by young people, supported by environmentalist groups.

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Germany's supreme constitutional court has ruled that the government's climate protection measures are insufficient to protect future generations, after a complaint brought by environmentalist groups.

In a groundbreaking ruling, the judges of the Karlsruhe court, Germany's highest, said the government now had until the end of next year to improve its Climate Protection Act, passed in 2019, and to ensure it met 2030 greenhouse gas reduction goals more immediately.

One of the complainants, Luisa Neubauer, an activist from Fridays for Future, welcomed the ruling, saying: "This is huge. Climate protection is not nice to have; climate protection is our basic right and that's official now. This is a huge win for the climate movement, it changes a lot."

The court said it was unconstitutional for emission reduction targets to have been postponed for so many years and stated that the law was not detailed enough about how reductions would happen.

The case was brought by young environmental activists, backed by Fridays for Future along with Greenpeace, Germany's Friends of the Earth (BUND) and other NGOs. Among them was Sophie Backsen, 22, an agricultural science student from the North Frisian island of Pellworm, on Germany's North Sea coast, together with her younger brothers, Hannes, Paul and Jakob. Her parents, who run an organic farm on the island that Backsen hopes one day to manage, had taken a similar case to Berlin's administrative court two years ago, together with Greenpeace, but it had ruled against them.

The Backsens were joined by two other families from the East Frisian island of Langeoog and another complainant from Brandenburg, all of whom are involved in either farming, sustainable tourism or both. In their complaint, they told the court they had all experienced first-hand the effects of the climate crisis, including flooding and heatwaves. The group also secured the support of Neubauer, Germany's Fridays for Future's main representative who is seen as the country's leading climate activist.

The judges ruled that young people's "fundamental rights to a human future" were threatened and that the law in its current state jeopardised their freedom because the goals set were too focused on dates too far in the future. It said that it was only possible to reduce the rise in average global temperatures to between 1.5C and 2C - as set out in the 2015 Paris agreement - with "more urgent and shorter term measures".

"The challenged rules violate the freedoms of the complainants, some of whom are still very young," the judges said in a statement. They added: "Virtually every freedom is potentially affected by these future emission reduction obligations because almost every area of human life is associated with the emission of greenhouse gases and is therefore threatened by drastic restrictions after 2030."

The government responded quickly to the ruling, promising a swift implementation of changes to the law. The finance minister, Olaf Scholz, said he would begin work immediately with the environment ministry to make the amendments, which would then be put to the government for approval.

Oliver Krischer, for the Green party, told the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, the ruling was "both a slap and a wakeup call for the government to finally start on an ambitious climate protection policy".

Claudia Kemfert, an energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research, called the ruling "trailblazing and historic". In future, decisions on all levels would have to be critically reviewed to see if they corresponded with long-term climate goals, she said.

Peter Altmaier, the minister for energy and the economy, called the ruling "big and significant". Despite criticism he faced for his role as one of the main authors of the law, he called it a welcome decision for the economy as it would help it "plan for the future".

Altmaier said he was relieved that the court had supported the "most important" obligation in his 2020 climate initiative, which required that reduction targets up to the year 2050 were "broken down into concrete reduction targets for each individual year between 2022 and 2050".

Neubauer said the climate lobby's success at Karlsruhe was only the beginning, emphasising that the five months leading up to the federal elections in September, in which the pro-environmental Greens have a good chance of entering government, would be crucial.

"We will continue to fight for a 1.5 degree policy which protects our future freedoms, instead of endangering them," she said, adding, "gone are the days when we were called ignorant for demanding climate action".

Under the 2019 law Germany is obliged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. Annual upper limits for greenhouse gas emissions across the energy, transport, agriculture and construction sectors are also set in the law. If targets are missed, there are penalties and the obligation to make more stringent improvements.

This article was amended on 30 April 2021. An earlier version referred incorrectly in one paragraph to 2040 when 2030 was meant.

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'Historic' German ruling says climate goals not tough enough

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Germany's supreme constitutional court has ruled that the government's climate protection measures are insufficient to protect future generations, after a complaint brought by environmentalist groups. In a groundbreaking ruling, the judges of the Karlsruhe court, Germany's highest, said the government now had until the end of next year to improve its Climate Protection Act, passed in 2019, and to ensure it met 2030 greenhouse gas reduction goals more immediately.

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Here are a lot of interesting articles, videos, teaching materials etc. on sustainability and democracy in general, but also good examples of action for the other modules.

The website is available in German, Englisch and Spanish

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About Global Ideas

At Global Ideas, we focus on "best practice" climate and biodiversity protection projects that offer solutions and inspire others to take action. Each week, an international team of television and online reporters produce films and features that offer an insight into how developing and emerging countries are dealing with the impacts of climate change. Global Ideas is supported by the German environment ministry within the framework of its International Climate Initiative.

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Global Ideas, a multimedia project by Deutsche Welle, reports on biodiversity conservation and the fight against climate change. Its journalists and writers bring you stories of inspiring people and innovative projects around the world in videos, background reports and interactive features.

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Journal with a lot of good articles on Democracy and Sustainability. Unfortunately only in German

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Living Planet: Environment stories from around the globe, Deutsche Welle

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Living Planet: Environment stories from around the globe, Deutsche Welle

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Every Thursday, a new episode of the prize-winning, half-hour radio program and podcast brings you environment stories from around the world, digging deeper into topics that touch our lives every day.

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As our imprint on the Earth grows, it also increasingly affects people and ecosystems - making even more pressing the need for environmental reporting that embraces a diversity of perspectives. From the microplastics in diapers to animal gene banks to the illegal poaching of raptors to make way for rich hunters - Living Planet explores our Earth and the impacts we have on it. We tackle important environmental conversations with thought leaders like Jane Goodall and amazing individuals like the vet who rescues animals in war zones.

Stories on Living Planet transport listeners to important protests, investigate green technologies and examine the ways in which humans and the natural environment are inseparable to keep you up-to-date on the state of the planet's environment.

Check us out on your favorite podcast app:
*If you've got a minute, leave us a rating or review. It really helps others find Living Planet!
You can listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, just search for "Living Planet". Living Planet is also broadcast around the world - find a listing of key radio partners here. Also, find past episodes in DW's media center, or our RSS feed.

Got a question for us?

Get in touch at livingplanet [at] dw.com

Sam Baker and Charli Shield produce Living Planet out of DW studios in Bonn, Germany. Living Planet has won top awards for environmental programming.

Not sure where to start?

Try this quick list of a few of our favorite episodes:

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Living Planet: Environment stories from around the globe | DW | 18.03.2021

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As our imprint on the Earth grows, it also increasingly affects people and ecosystems - making even more pressing the need for environmental reporting that embraces a diversity of perspectives. From the microplastics in diapers to animal gene banks to the illegal poaching of raptors to make way for rich hunters - Living Planet explores our Earth and the impacts we have on it.