Setting up a nature rights org

I am a passionate lifelong deep environmentalist dedicated to the protection of nature and all her living beings.

I come from a very beautiful and naturally abundant but also very fragile and highly endangered region of the Balkans and Mediterranean.
Some of the worst destruction of nature in the world is happening right there but people in the ‘west’ scarcely know about it, and people in the region do not really have the resources to successfully fight it all on their own.

So my life mission now is to form an organisation which I want to call Earth Thrive and to dedicate my life to working with holistic approaches to prevent and remediate the destruction of nature/ecocides in the Balkans/Mediterranean through use and implementation of law and permaculture to protect nature and empower local communities to save her and care for her.

ORGANISATION'S PROGRAMS:

Some of the biggest ecocides currently happening there are caused either by irresponsible corporations or through ignorance and poverty or people and citizens who live and work in the region.

There are 3 program areas which the organisation will be covering in order to address the above:
PREVENT – EDUCATE- RESTORE - Prevention of ecocides, environmental education and nature restoration

1 - Prevention of ecocides and nature rights

One of the main aims of the organisation will be to help communities to fight off destruction of nature through law, both using current, especially international and environmental laws but also through alternative, newly emerging ways like the Community/Sustainability Bills of Rights that establish the will of communities to preserve their nature and which seek to change the present law which does not give adequate protection or grants nature her rights.

One of our legal partners in this program are Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund – CELDF who are pioneers in this field and who have already successfully helped over 150 communities in the US to establish their and nature rights and thus prevent ecocides from destroying their community and nature.

Standing up for the rights of nature and all her inhabitants, including humans, will be at the core of our activity, as only when nature is seen as a living being with intrinsic rights to exist and not as a commodity to be exploited, can we truly start to protect her and live in harmony with her.

2 – Environmental Education for the prevention of ecocides

Many ecocides come about either through ignorance or poverty and proper education like permaculture can teach people, organisations and communities how to live, work and care for nature and their land and at the same time provide for themselves without destroying the nature.

The emphasis in this program will be on courses and education for specific issues and problems like for example deforestation through either ignorance of the institutions in charge who mismanage and clear-cut forests in the name of ‘maintenance’, or through poverty of local people who indiscriminately cut trees for fuel and building.

This will provide them with knowledge on how to properly care for  forests -  in tune with nature or, in the case of communities and individuals, teach them how to grow their own wood for coppicing and building rather than damage wild ecosystems and cause ecocide.

3 – Remediation of ecocides and restoration of nature

While our primary concern will be prevention of ecocides, it would be only a half way solution if we did not also return to life already destroyed and wounded nature.

Using knowledge of permaculture, biodynamics and other holistic methods it is possible to, in relatively short period of time, restore nature to her full abundance and give her back her life which was previously taken by human actions.

I have already done preliminary talks with well known world experts in this field for potential partnership for the above program.

ISSUES AND PROJECTS

There are tragically numerous issues and ecocides that are threatening the nature and communities in the region and one of the biggest of them is certainly the mass building of dams on just about every river there is.

There are currently well over 500 dams being planned to be built by various, mostly foreign, corporations on just about every river in the region , threatening to destroy very precious environment and ecosystems, even in the protected natural parks .

I attach a picture of the map of the existing, under constructions and (in red) planned dams in the region for illustration:
It is clear from this picture the extent of the problem and the damage that will be caused if all of those dams are built - some of them in protected nature reserves!!

The other huge issue is indiscriminate and massive use of toxic pesticides, causing huge pollution of land, water and plants, and ill health in people and animals, which is stemming from either insufficient, wrong, or often, no information and knowledge at all on the proper use of pesticides, their toxic impact, or knowledge of alternative, natural and non polluting plant protection.

Almost all of those ecocide causes can be remedied thorough the use of law, in its various forms, and permaculture .

And crucially, through granting nature her rights and recognising her right to live, thrive and exist in peace, non-threatened or destroyed by human activities.

Within the first two programs, I have already started 2 projects to address the above issues.

The first project will be helping  a community in Serbia to save one of the last unpolluted rivers in Arilje, SW Serbia, from destruction by an unnecessary dam building -   through establishing a sustainability bill of right and nature right for the river not to be destroyed by the dam ecocide.
That project is already under way and we have already held successful meetings between our legal partners CELDF and representatives of the Arilje community environmental group to start the ball rolling and familiarise the community with the process of drafting and establishing a sustainability bill of rights.

The other project is a big regional project on pesticide - pesticide awareness raising and permaculture education on natural plant protection and prevention of further mass pollution of nature and people from pesticides caused by its extremely excessive use in Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia, which we will deliver in partnership with the Pesticide Action Network UK , Slovenian permaculture teachers, Alijansa za Zajednicko DOBRO – Alliance for Common GOOD from Serbia and other local organisations and individuals from the region.

We will also be working with our legal partners CELDF on drafting and establishing a sustainability bill of rights to be pesticide free in order to ensure wishes of local communities and to establish and protect nature rights to become and remain unpolluted by pesticides and other toxic pollutants used in agriculture.

There is huge interest in this project in Serbia, Bosnia/Republic of Srpska and Macedonia so far, as massive and indiscriminate pesticide use and the resulting pollution and ill health in the region is taking scary proportions and there are currently no proper, serious or organised attempts to remedy that.

It is not uncommon to hear stories of fruit pickers dying from pesticide poisoning or old village wells having to be shut down and municipal water supply introduced because of underground water pollution by pesticides.

Attached is a picture of rare and protected cranes that died after eating seeds laden with pesticides that were scattered on the field where they usually fed.
This is by no means a lone example and tragically, numerous other animals have died for the same reasons since.

Since one of the areas where pesticides are most used is in orchards and fruit production, the pesticide project will also include mapping and re-introduction of old and disappearing domestic and local fruit varieties in Serbia which are much more resistant to pests and diseases and therefore require much less or no use of pesticides and other chemicals by way of plant protection.

This part of the project will be done in cooperation with Belgrade Natural History Museum following their very successful national exhibition on the same subject .
A very important quest in today’s world of disappearing nature and old local varieties.

Budget:

An approximate budget for all of the above and for partial support of my livelihood so I can set it all up and get the organisation on her feet:

· Setting up and registering the organisation – £300

· Website domain registration, hosting package and website and map designs - £500

· Travelling to Balkans to talk to communities on the    ground directly with regards to the Community and Sustainability Bills of Rights re pesticides, right to be pesticide free, and other plans, issues and projects  - £400

· Travelling and expenses to attend a conference on Balkan rivers in September in Belgrade where I will be presenting Nature Rights and sustainability bills of rights specifically for rivers -  £400

· Travelling to Paris in December to attend The International Tribunal on the Rights of Nature - £400

· Partial cover of my livelihood for 5 months so I can afford to put in the required time and work on the above untill the organisaiton is put on her feet - £2,500

· Misc expenses and incidentals (translations, printing material…) - £500

About me:
I am a lifelong deep ecologist and I've dedicated my life to environmental protection and nature rights.

I hold an MSc in Environmental Decision Making, Full Permaculture Design Course and  biodynamic gardening certificates.

I was a founder and director of Food Up Front, an award winning and one of the first urban food growing based on permaculture principles organisations in London.

I worked for years on the international initiative for eradication of ecocide and have started first ever social media platforms in Serbia on the subjects of Permaculture  and ecocide.

I am also the first one to introduce community and sustainability bills of rights in the region and to start talks on the law of ecocide and nature rights.

I now work voluntarily as a part of the future European Citizen’s Initiative for the Rights of Nature to be launched in 2016. My Earth Thrive organisation is a regional partner for the Balkans and will be organising local groups in Croatia.

In the past few decades since I’ve been actively working on the protection of nature, I have acquired lots good and relevant knowledge, experience and contacts in the fields of ecocide, rights of nature and permaculture and now I want to put it all to good use to help prevent and remediate ecocides in my native Balkans and Med using law and permaculture and help out local communities by empowering them to stand their own ground and also teaching them to live in harmony with nature.

But I cannot do it alone as I just do not have the resources to cover all that needs to be done to set such an organisation up and get it running.

That is why I’m reaching out to you –  friends, colleagues, fellow environmentalist and the wider community to help me in this quest so I can set up and develop the organisation, do a professional website and an interactive map, go and speak with the communities, afford to spend the time needed to put the org on her feet.

Your help would also enable me to dedicate the time and cover the expenses needed to lift off the ground the organisation and work on the first two initial and also pioneering projects, which are first of many to come.

I hope the above, which is but a tiny fragment of the problems in the area, and my mission to change that, has inspired you to help in any way you can.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have and thank you all in advance for any help, support or share of my campaign

With gratitude
Zoe