Center for Humans and Nature Global Director and Senior Fellows at Global Ecological Integrity Group

Global Program, The Biosphere Ethics Initiative, Keeping Nature Alive: From Moral Motivations to Legal Implications

July 22nd, 2010

Dr. Engel presenting on Making the Earth Covenant at GEIG, 2010

Center for Humans and Nature (CHN) Director of North American Responsibilities Kathryn Kintzele and CHN Senior Fellows J. Ronald Engel and Peter Brown attended the 18th annual gathering of the Global Ecological Integrity Group (GEIG), June 26-July 2, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. The theme for this year was, “Ecological Integrity and Globalization: Science, Human Behaviour, Public Policy and the Law.”

A book on this same topic, edited by GEIG founder, Laura Westra, and featuring articles by Drs. Kintzele, Engel and Brown, will be published before the 19th meeting next year in Prague, Czech Republic. Dr. Engel spoke on the subject of his upcoming book, “Making the Earth Covenant.” Engel’s talk provided a philosophical and spiritual framework for the two subsequent talks on the ethics of climate change (Donald Brown) and Peter Brown’s talk, “Can We Find a Moral Foundation for an Ecological Political Economy?” Dr. Kintzele’s presentation, “Keeping Nature Alive: From Moral Implications to Legal Applications,” provided a comparative analysis of judicial opinions from courts and states around the world, and how they inform existing and emerging principles of international law.

Dr. Kintzele fielding questions on comparative caselaw at GEIG, 2010

Prior to the conference, Dr. Kintzele and Klaus Bosselmann, led a successful and spirited meeting on the two projects of the Ethics Specialist Group of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law: the Biosphere Ethics Initiative, led by the Center for Humans and Nature, and Earth Democracy, led by the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law. The two projects inform one another, as the former seeks to incorporate principles of environmental ethics into law and policy, and the latter seeks new or revised forms of governance to best allow for a flourishing and sustainable humans and nature relationship.

Center for Humans and Nature

Expanding Our Natural and Civic Imagination