[env-trinity] Tribunal Considers Rights of Nature in Imperiled San Francisco Bay-Delta

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/5/2/1522252/-Tribunal-Considers-Rights-of-Nature-in-Imperiled-San-Francisco-Bay-Delta


Gary Mulcahy, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, one of the judges of the tribunal,  
asks a question of witness Roger Mammon. Photo by Dan Bacher.

Tribunal Considers Rights of Nature in Imperiled San Francisco Bay-Delta

by Dan Bacher

Many people have opined about Governor Jerry Brown’s environmentally  
devastating Delta Tunnels Plan, but nobody, including the Brown and  
Obama administrations promoting the project, have asked the alleged  
“beneficiary” of this plan — the San Francisco Bay-Delta Ecosystem -  
what the estuary has to say about the tunnels.

That all changed on April 30, 2016, when a panel of judges convened in  
Antioch to consider the question: “What would the San Francisco Bay- 
Delta  Ecosystem say?”  when examining a case brought before them in  
the first-ever Bay Area Rights of Nature Tribunal. The event was based  
on an international rights of nature tribunal held in Paris during the  
Paris Climate Talks last December.

“The rights of nature have been inherent from the beginning of time,”  
said Gary Mulcahy, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, one of the tribunal judges.  
“We need to get rid of the concept of dominion over the Earth. We —  
the salmon, the water, the trees, the spiders — are all one thing. The  
more pieces you take from the whole, the closer you come to becoming  
extinct. Just like the salmon that my people depended upon.”

The Bay Area Rights of Nature Alliance, Restore the Delta, and Move to  
Amend held their “Rights of Nature Tribunal” regarding Governor  
Brown's proposed Delta Tunnels proposal, recently renamed the  
California Water Fix, at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center in  
Antioch, in the heart of the West Delta, from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.

The tribunal took place at a critical time for the Delta, its fish and  
wildlife, and its people.

“The San Francisco Bay-Delta lies polluted and suffering in a state of  
perpetual, human-made drought,” according to a statement from the  
three groups. “An estimated 95 percent of the historic Delta natural  
habitat has been lost. Between 2.1 million to 6.9 million acre-feet of  
water is exported from the Delta every year. Numerous Delta species  
face extinction, including the Delta Smelt and Winter-run Chinook  
Salmon. Marine species that depend on Delta fish for food, such as the  
Southern Resident Killer Whale, are also imperiled by failing Bay- 
Delta ecological health.”

The event organizers noted, “Dozens of U.S. and international laws  
have begun recognizing rights and legal standing for ecosystems and  
species as a new framework for environmental protection, including for  
the beleaguered Delta. These laws and tribunals are inspired by the  
Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth.”

“This is the first local nature’s rights Tribunal based on the  
extraordinarily successful International Rights of Nature Tribunal  
held in Paris during December’s climate talks,” said Linda Sheehan  
with the Earth Law Center.

The tribunal addressed alleged violations of nature’s rights and human  
rights posed by state and federal water management decisions and by  
Governor Brown’s proposed Delta Tunnels, a multi-billion dollar  
project that will significantly reduce flows needed for Delta  
waterways and fish.

The construction of the tunnels would hasten the extinction of a  
multitude of fish species, including Sacramento River winter-run  
Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, longfin smelt,  
green sturgeon and other endangered fish. The tunnels would also  
export water from the Trinity River, the largest tributary of the  
Klamath River, imperiling the salmon, steelhead and lamprey  
populations that play a big role in the culture and food supply of the  
Yurok, Hoopa Valley and Karuk Tribes.

Tribunal judges included: Idle No More SF Bay co-founder Pennie Opal  
Plant;  London-based Gaia Foundation Director Liz Husked; government  
liaison for the Winnemem Wintu Tribe Gary Mulcahy; Movement Rights  
director Shannon Biggs; and Delta water expert Tim Stroshane.

The Bay Area Rights of Nature Tribunal “explored ways to confront a  
system of law that harms people and nature, identified new strategies  
to protect nature’s and human rights and to begin the process of  
healing the Delta. Judges considered water diversions from the Delta  
not just under existing environmental law, but from the perspective of  
the inherent rights of ecosystems and species, including the inherent  
right of the Delta to flow,” according to the groups.

Alhison Ehara Brown and Osprey Orielle Lake, both from the Women's  
Earth & Climate Action Network, International, opened the tribunal.  
They were followed by witnesses including  Roger Mammon, Delta  
resident, duck hunter, and fisherman; Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla,  
Executive Director of Restore the Delta; Ixtzel Reynoso, resident of  
Clarkburg; and Ryan Camero, Stockton artist and activist.

Expert speakers testifying include Darcie Luce, Friends of the San  
Francisco Estuary; David Cobb, Move to Amend; and Chris Tittle,  
Sustainable Economies Law Center.

“Sadly, I have watched this magnificent ecosystem slowly die over the  
past 30 years,” said Roger Mammon. “When I first began fishing in the  
Delta, I was amazed watching salmon jump out of the water on their way  
to the Pacific. I look at the Delta as a huge lung that inhales and  
exhales twice a day through natural tidal movement. A huge weight has  
been placed on its chest and this once mighty estuary is now gasping  
for breath.”

“The Delta and the San Francisco Bay are one big estuary," stated  
Darcie Luce.  “There are now 13 fish species listed as threatened or  
endangered in the Delta. More than 40 percent of water is diverted,  
when scientists tell us at least 75 percent of the fresh water should  
flow through the estuary to be fully protective of fish and wildlife.  
With the Delta Tunnels, the amount of diverted water will remain the  
same or be increased. We need more freshwater flows to save the Delta,  
not less.”

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla testified, “What does it mean to destroy the  
Delta ecosystem? Four million rural and urban residents live in the  
five Delta counties. The proposed Tunnels would destroy these  
communities that depend on a healthy delta, and their sustainable ways  
of life.”

The judges also commented on the assault on the Delta by the state and  
federal governments, corporate agribusiness, Southern California water  
agencies and others.

Shannon Biggs, Movement Rights director, said, “I have watched the  
harms to the Delta increase my entire life. The Delta is so polluted  
that it is now unsafe to eat more than one fish a month. Who decides  
which communities are to be sacrificed? Which fish? The Delta has been  
violated, raped. There is another way.”

“We find state and federal water agencies guilty of promoting a tunnel  
project that would enlarge harm to the beleaguered, Delta,” said Tim  
Stroshane, Delta Water Policy Expert. “These difficulties arise  
because water is being treated as a commodity, which a water industry  
seeks to profit from.”

Linda Sheehan, serving in the role of Prosecutor for the Earth, said  
at the conclusion of the Tribunal, “The rights of people and nature to  
life-giving water are fundamental rights, and they must be recognized  
and protected. I urge you to reject the destruction of the Delta and  
Delta communities, and to call for solutions that respect the laws of  
nature.”

Ecuador under President Rafael Correa is the first county to recognize  
the Rights of Nature in its Constitution, rewritten in 2007-2008. The  
people of Ecuador ratified the Constitution in 2008.  
(therightsofnature.org/...)

In Bolivia under President Evo Morales, the Plurinational Legislative  
Assembly in December 2010 passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth  
(Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra). The law defines Mother Earth as  
"a collective subject of public interest," and declares both Mother  
Earth and life-systems (which combine human communities and ecosytems)  
as titleholders of inherent rights specified in the law.

For more information about this event visit:  www.facebook.com/...
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