“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom: it is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves’

Today environmental and human lawyer, Polly Higgins, addressed the people present at the Klimaforum on the need to put in place clear laws to protect the planet. She strongly argued that you cannot pose a value on earth and treat natural resources and, more generally, the ecosystem as a disposable commodity. She said that the slavery era has not ended, it just changed its nature and scope. ‘

Instead of enslaving humans we have enslaved the planet”

The driving forces of this process are multinational corporations who can freely dispose of natural resources around the globe cos of the loopholes of the international system. Heavy extractive industries account for more than 78% of the worlds man-made GHGs.

Bolivia has recently proposed to draft a Mother Nature Declaration creating natural laws of the planet. This would include fundamental rights such as:

• The right not to be polluted
• The right to ecological integrity and diversity
• The right to the natural circle of life
• The right to a health and clean environment

We need to change the absolute wrong idea of ownership of the planet towards a stewardship of the planet where we would protect and preserve the natural environment against any sort of threats and dangers. It is not just about sustainability but more about responsibility towards Mother Earth if we want to guarantee our survival.