Download the report: [https://www.wecaninternational.org/ron-just-transition-report]

Belém, Brazil — As countries gather for COP30, hosted in the Amazon, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) is releasing a new report to call for the urgent recognition of nature’s rights in the Just Transition. The policy brief, "Rights of Nature as a Central Pillar of a Just Transition," examines how incorporating a Rights of Nature legal and cultural framework into a Just Transition can enhance global responses to the climate crisis.

The policy brief is being released in the lead-up to the UNFCCC COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where one anticipated outcome is forward progress on the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), established at COP27 to guide countries in developing Just Transition pathways in alignment with economic shifts toward a low-carbon future. After negotiations around the JTWP stalled at COP29, and oil and gas production by Global North nations continues to increase, it is more critical than ever for governments to adopt bold, transformative, and equitable Just Transition frameworks in Belém. The report authors note that “a Just Transition is not only about decarbonizing the economy; it is about examining the root causes of the climate crisis and advocating for systemic change. It asks how to shift away from fossil fuels equitably, and how to ensure that a justice-based society is a vision of the future being built.”

The report emphasizes that Rights of Nature, as a growing international jurisprudence norm, a global movement grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems and practices, and a contemporary legal framework, provides a powerful corrective and new economic model rooted in reciprocity, community well-being, and ecological integrity. Recognizing legal rights for natural entities addresses the root causes of environmental degradation and helps restore a governance mechanism that enables a healthy and just relationship with nature. Rights of Nature laws, ordinances, and initiatives currently exist in over 35 countries, and continue to grow.

This year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ 2025 Advisory Opinion declared that nature is entitled to rights, reflecting the interdependence between human rights and the environment. As the IACHR and ICJ court decisions affirm, the Just Transition requires more than a transfer from fossil fuels to renewable energy; it necessitates a fundamental shift in economic, legal, and environmental management systems, as well as a reorientation of cultural relationships with nature.

The WECAN policy brief highlights that the Rights of Nature provides an indispensable framework for realizing the systemic shift required to achieve a true Just Transition, identifying key pathways, including reimagining transition mineral mining, centering Indigenous leadership, advancing feminist economics, and ensuring solutions are rights-based and remain within planetary boundaries. The report also provides concrete examples of how the Rights of Nature approach has upheld core Just Transition principles, demonstrating how this approach can further strengthen environmental protections and deepen commitments to climate justice. For instance, in 2024, a group of Kukama Indigenous women in Peru won a landmark legal case that secured the rights of the Marañón River as its own entity. After decades of oil spills, the courts recognized the river’s rights to flow, be free from all contamination, be restored, and be protected.

“When woven into Just Transition efforts, a Rights of Nature framework ensures that climate solutions respect ecological limits, uphold human and Indigenous rights, and prioritize care over consumption. It helps resist green colonialism and extractivist technologies disguised as progress,” stated the authors of the report in the conclusion. “Most importantly, Rights of Nature highlights that a truly just world is one where all beings have the right to flourish—all the diversity of the human family is reciprocally and respectfully interconnected with rivers, mountains, forests, oceans, animals, the climate, and future generations.”

To learn more about the report and the recognition of nature’s rights in the Just Transition, please join WECAN for the events listed below, taking place during COP30. Additionally, one of the report authors will be on the ground for the full two weeks of COP30 and is available for interviews.

6th International Rights of Nature Tribunal Session: A New Pledge for Mother Nature – Pre COP30

Tuesday, November 11, 9:00 - 18:00 BRT

Universidade Federal do Pará,  Belém, Brazil, and online, register here.

Press Conference | Rights of Nature: A Systemic Solution to the Climate Crisis

Tuesday, November 18, 14:00 – 14:30 BRT

Press Conference Room, Blue Zone, UNFCCC COP30

Please learn more about all of WECAN’s COP30 events and delegates online at wecaninternational.org/cop30