FINALLY BEING HEARD: THE GREAT BARRIER REEF AND THE INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS OF NATURE TRIBUNAL

Abstract

In January 2014, the newly created International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature and Mother Earth (‘the Tribunal’) sat for the first time in Quito, Ecuador. The Tribunal, created by international civil society network ‘The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature’, admitted nine cases, including a claim on behalf of the Great Barrier Reef. Given the Tribunal has emerged from civil society rather than state-centred international law and given Australia’s legal system does not recognise the intrinsic rights of plants, animals, or ecosystems to exist, what possible benefit does this Tribunal offer the Great Barrier Reef? This article suggest that the Tribunal is a powerful alternative to advocate against environmental destruction, and has the potential to play a role in transforming existing law and contribute to the burgeoning field of Earth jurisprudence.