Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice is a book by Cormac Cullinan

Cormac Cullinan

Cormac Cullinan is a practising environmental attorney and author based in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a director of the leading South African environmental law firm, Cullinan & Associates Inc, and Chief Executive Officer of EnAct International, an environmental governance consultancy...

 that proposes recognizing natural communities and ecosystems as legal persons with legal rights. The book explains the concept of wild law

Wild law

The term ‘wild law’ was first coined by Cormac Cullinan, to refer to human laws that are consistent with Earth jurisprudence. A wild law is a law made by people to regulate human behaviour that privileges maintaining the integrity and functioning of the whole Earth community in the long term, over...

, that is, human laws that are consistent with earth jurisprudence

Earth jurisprudence

Earth jurisprudence is a philosophy of law and human governance that is based on the idea that humans are only one part of a wider community of beings and that the welfare of each member of that community is dependent on the welfare of the Earth as a whole...

. Foreworded by Thomas Berry

Thomas Berry

Thomas Berry, C.P. was a Catholic priest of the Passionist order, cultural historian and ecotheologian ....

, the book was published by Green Books in November 2003 in association with The Gaia Foundation, London. It was first published in South Africa, the author's home country, in August 2002 by Siber Ink.

The feasibility of developing a new form of jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...

 was discussed at a conference in Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 attended by Thomas Berry in April 2001, organised by the Gaia Foundation. A group of people involved with law and indigenous peoples attended from South Africa, Britain, Colombia, Canada and the United States.

Since then Wild Law has been at the centre of many conferences and residential workshops:

• A conference based on the concept of wild law
  Wild law
  The term ‘wild law’ was first coined by Cormac Cullinan, to refer to human laws that are consistent with Earth jurisprudence. A wild law is a law made by people to regulate human behaviour that privileges maintaining the integrity and functioning of the whole Earth community in the long term, over...
  
   was held in November 2005 at the University of Brighton
  University of Brighton
  The University of Brighton is an English university of the United Kingdom, with a community of over 23,000 students and 2,600 staff based on campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. It has one of the best teaching quality ratings in the UK and a strong research record, factors which...
  
  . The conference was chaired by former Environment Minister Michael Meacher
  Michael Meacher
  Michael Hugh Meacher is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton since 1997. Previously he had been the MP for Oldham West, first elected in 1970. On 22 February 2007 he declared that he would be standing for the Labour Leadership, challenging...
  
   MP
  Member of Parliament
  A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
  
   and speakers included Jacqueline McGlade, head of the European Environment Agency
  European Environment Agency
  European Environment Agency is an agency of the European Union. Its task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. It is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public...
  
   and Lynda Warren of the Environment Agency
  Environment Agency
  The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
  
  .

• In November 2006, a conference based on the book was held at the University of Brighton in the UK and organised jointly by UKELA and ELF. 'A Walk on the Wild Side: Changing Environmental Law' and was chaired by John Elkington (of SustainAbility and the ELF Advisory Council) with guest speakers, Cormac Cullinan, Norman Baker MP (former Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesman), Satish Kumar (Resurgence) and Begonia Filgueira (Gaia Law Ltd).
• “A ‘Wild Law’ Response to Climate Change” workshop was held in September 2007 to develop a practical approach for applying Wild Law principles which are already helping shift legal processes in the US and South Africa. Organised by UKELA, with support from ELF and the Gaia Foundation, London and sponsored by the Body Shop. Held at a conference centre in Derbyshire in the UK, with internationally renowned speakers Cormac Cullinan, author of Wild Law, Professor Brian Goodwin, visiting scholar and teacher on MSc in Holistic Science, at the Schumacher College, International Centre for Ecological Studies, Devon, Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of The Center for Food Safety
  Center for Food Safety
  The Center for Food Safety is a U.S. non-profit organization, based in Washington, D.C., that also maintains an office in San Francisco, CA...
  
   in USA and founder of the International Center for Technology Assessment
  International Center for Technology Assessment
  The International Center for Technology Assessment is a U.S. non-profit bi-partisan organization, based in Washington, D.C.. ICTA aims to provide the public with full assessments and analyses of technological impacts on society...
  
  , Peter Roderick, director of the Climate Justice Programme and was Friends of the Earth’s lawyer in London from 1996.
• Wild Law was discussed in April 2007 at a conference, hosted by Center for Earth Jurisprudence, a collaborative initiative of Barry & St. Thomas Universities , Florida, USA, on the emerging field of Earth Jurisprudence.
• The “’Wild Law’ - Ideas into Action” residential workshop is to be held in September 2008, to launch the first phase of international research by the UKELA and the Gaia Foundation to identify Wild Law in practice and provide a Wild Law toolkit for decision makers and practitioners. Held at a conference centre in Derbyshire in the UK, workshop leaders include: Mellese Damtie, Ethiopian lawyer and biologist, former Dean of the Legal Department at Ethiopia’s Civil Service College, Andrew Kimbrell, public interest attorney, activist and author, executive director of The Centre for Food Safety in USA and founder of the International Centre for Technology Assessment; and Professor Lynda Warren, emeritus professor at Aberystwyth University, environmental consultant and the research supervisor. Also participating, research paper coordinators, Begonia Filgueira, of Gaia Law Ltd and ERIC Ltd, and Ian Mason, practising barrister and Director of the Earth Jurisprudence Resource Centre; Cormac Cullinan, an environmental lawyer based in Cape Town, South Africa, author of Wild Law, director of the leading South African environmental law firm, Cullinan and Associates Inc., and CEO of EnAct International, an environmental governance consultancy; and Ng’anga Thiong’o, legal and policy adviser for Kenyan community NGO, Porini, and formerly to Green Belt Movement and Nobel prize winner, Wangari Maathai. This event is facilitated by Elizabeth Rivers, former commercial lawyer and professional facilitator, and Vicki Elcoate, Executive Director of UKELA.

The Tamaqua Borough Sewage Sludge Ordinance enacted in 2006 by the 7,000 inhabits of the community of Tamaqua, PA is based on the 2002 ideas set out in Wild Law and has been viewed potentially as one of the most important events of 2006. Tamaqua's ordinance not only denies the right of corporations to spread sewage sludge as fertilizer on farmland, even when the farmer is willing, the ordinance recognizes natural communities and ecosystems as legal persons with legal rights. This ordinance is among the first " wild laws" to be passed anywhere in the world.

General

• Stephen Harding, 'Earthly rights', The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  , April 2007.
• Simon Boyle, 'On thin ice', The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  , November 2006

External links

• Center for Earth Jurisprudence
• EnAct International, an environmental law consultancy based in Cape Town, South Africa, founded by Cullinan
• Siber Ink, the original publishers of Wild Law.