Rights of Nature is a doctrine and global movement that advocates for ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and mountains to bear legal rights in the same, or at least a similar, manner as human beings.
* According to the doctrine, an ecosystem is entitled to legal personhood status and thereby has the right to defend itself in a court of law against environmental harms caused by human action, including human-related climate change.
* Because humans are part of, interconnected with, and dependent on the natural world, how legal systems protect rights of nature is necessary to our own human survival.

The living world has a right to exist, thrive and evolve – and our legal system needs to be transformed to respect this reality. By recognizing the rights of watersheds, human activities will have to change to become more sustainable. We will have to be supportive of regenerative life on every level within all Lane County watersheds. The survival of life on the planet depends on we humans recognizing rights of nature! We humans are the only ones with a “legal system”, and how our legal system protects nature matters in our own human survival. We humans are absolutely dependent on nature for our life and our existence!