The constitutional provisions allow both the tribe and individual tribal citizens to bring legal action to enforce these rights, with cases able to be brought in the name of the Rappahannock River itself. The tribal council must adopt necessary laws and codes to guarantee and enforce these rights.<\/p>\n
A tribal court system will be established by the tribe in 2025 to enforce these rights. This is important, Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel at the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, which assisted in developing the constitutional provisions, told Mongabay. That\u2019s because \u201cTribal court systems are driven by different value systems than Western European court systems. The Indigenous cultural system treats these things as cultural imperatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tribe\u2019s action adds to a growing movement among tribal nations to protect natural resources through law. For example, in 2018, the White Earth Ojibwe band of the Chippewa Nation passed a resolution giving traditional rice the right to \u201cexist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve.\u201d In 2020, the Nez Perce recognized the rights of the Snake River in the U.S. Pacific Northwest to exist and regenerate. However, this is the first successful attempt to enshrine these rights in a tribal constitution.<\/p>\n
Rights-of-nature laws often arise in response to immediate threats like mining, drilling, development and pollution to ecosystems critical to Indigenous cultural practices. While resolutions can address urgent threats quickly, constitutional amendments provide the strongest protection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile tribal resolutions and laws stand on a certain layer legally, tribal constitutions are at a higher level,\u201d Linzey said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like the difference between Congress passing a regular law and actually embedding something into the U.S. Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The constitutional protection holds special significance given the tribe\u2019s history. According to the tribe\u2019s official website, the Rappahannock first encountered European settlers along the river in 1607. The tribe sold their first piece of land to the English in 1651, a sale for which they were never fully paid. The tribe endured multiple forced relocations, including removal from 3,474 acres (1,406 hectares) set aside for them in 1682.<\/p>\n
\u201cReflecting on the Mission of the Rappahannock Tribe to preserve our culture, social and political structures, the logical next step for us is to do all we can to protect our River,\u201d Chief Richardson said.<\/p>\n The new constitutional framework can work alongside the tribe\u2019s existing treaty rights from 1677, which guarantee fishing, oystering and gathering rights. \u201cThe rights of nature is basically a way to protect the resource under which those use rights are anchored,\u201d Linzey told Mongabay.<\/p>\n The Rappahannock River faces multiple threats from development and environmental pressures. The southward expansion of Washington, D.C.\u2019s suburbs has increased development in the watershed, while the river has also faced challenges from fracking proposals, which led to it being named one of America\u2019s most endangered rivers in 2017. Historical threats included intensive agricultural and industrial development, extensive logging and mining that caused erosion and pollution, and the century-long impact of the Embrey Dam, which blocked fish migration until it was removed in 2004.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ratification of the Rappahannock Tribal Constitution is a major milestone that demonstrates how sovereignty and self-determination can be harnessed to protect ecosystems and species upon which their traditional cultures depend,\u201d Melissa Ehrenreich, executive director of the Indigenous Conservation Council for the Chesapeake Bay, said in a statement. \u201cThis is just the beginning of using these new tools to protect the rights of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rappahannock\u2019s constitutional protection follows similar developments worldwide. According to a 2020 report, Ecuador became the first country to recognize the rights of nature in its constitution in 2008. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Whanganui River gained legal personhood in 2017 through an agreement with M\u0101ori tribes, while in Bangladesh, all rivers within the country were granted legal rights in 2019.<\/p>\n According to the Guide to Rights of Nature in Indian Country, published by the Native-led Bioneers Indigeneity Program, passing rights-of-nature laws demonstrates tribal sovereignty. However, \u201cthe ability of Rights of Nature policy to support and forward Tribal sovereignty is subject to case law and has not yet been tested in [U.S.] court.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn spite of this warning, we believe that now is the time to stretch sovereignty to protect ancestral homelands for generations to come,\u201d the guide says. \u201cRights of Nature laws are a way to ensure that our values are passed down \u2026 They tell the world what matters to us.\u201d<\/p>\n