Endangered Species Manifesto

Abbey Liao and Hannah Xu

Over 41,000

species on the endangered list and are threatened with extinction

What makes a species endangered?

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an endangered species is one that meets any one of the following criteria:

• 50–70% population decrease over 10 years, a total geographic area less than 5,000 km2 (or local population area less than 500 km2)

• a population size less than 2,500 adults, a restricted population of 250 adults

• a statistical prediction that it will go extinct within the next 20 years.

Rights of Nature

The “Rights of Nature” movement is fundamentally rethinking humanity’s relationship with nature and it is gaining momentum. It is led by activists advocating for ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and mountains to bear legal rights in the same, or at least a similar, manner as human beings. This movement is striving for a paradigm shift in which nature is placed at the center and humans are connected to it in an interdependent way, rather than a dominant one. How would such a legal system work, and could giving rights to nature help in the legal battle against climate change?”

Rights of Nature

Legislation has been written in many countries

Ecuador - Rights of Pachamama first lawsuit filed by the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature (GARN) building a road across Ecuador's Vilcabamba River, dumping trash into the river ruled in favor of the river but the construction company didn't comply GARN couldn't afford bringing up another lawsuit

This is happening across the world in various countries: New Zealand, Colombia, India, US

Rights of Nature in the US

Pennsylvania: ban on gas drillings and fracking

Ohio adopted the Lake Erie Bill of Rights which gives the lake its own rights in 2020, ruled "invalid in its entirety" and "unconstitutionally vague" but plaintiffs are still fighting for it Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and the Minganie Regional County Municipality recognized the Canadian Magpie River’s legal rights of personhood through the adoption of two resolutions river has nine rights and can be legally represented by guardians responsible for preserving those rights

196 governments will meet to reach an agreement to direct international measures on biodiversity "China will lead the deliberations in Montreal and will set the agenda and tone." expand on past framework such as 2020 Aichi Targets failed to meet any of the targets by 2020 (e.g. "Governments, business and stakeholders at all levels need to take steps to achieve or implement plans for sustainable production and consumption and keep the impacts of use of natural resources well within safe ecological limits.") new framework includes "conserving ecosystems; enhancing the variety of benefits that nature provides to people; ensuring fairness in the sharing of genetic resources, such as digital DNA sequencing data; and solidifying funding commitments."

41,000 endangered species...save one

Demands

Mission Statement

Piping Plover

small migratory shorebird nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America found at ocean shores in the Northeast and along lakeshores and alkali wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Great Lakes inland populations are endangered and the coastal population is listed as threatened according to the

Endangered Species Act of 1973

major reason for their decline in numbers: human development along the beaches, lakes, and rivers where piping plovers lay their eggs