{"id":12575,"date":"2026-06-02T14:35:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T18:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdgnews.com\/?p=12575"},"modified":"2026-06-02T15:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:13:15","slug":"sdg-news-spotlight-callie-veelenturf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sdgnews.com\/ru\/sdg-news-spotlight-callie-veelenturf\/","title":{"rendered":"Callie Veelenturf – Building a Global Movement for Nature’s Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a time when governments, courts, and communities around the world are grappling with accelerating biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and climate disruption, Callie Veelenturf is advancing a bold idea that could fundamentally reshape humanity’s relationship with the natural world: Nature has inherent rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callie Veelenturf is a marine conservation biologist, National Geographic Explorer, Founder of forNature and The Leatherback Project<\/strong><\/a> (501(c)3 nonprofits), and leader of the For Nature program of the National Geographic Society. She has emerged as one of the leading voices in the growing global movement to recognize and protect the Rights of Nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work seeks to answer a profound question. What if rivers, forests, oceans, species, and ecosystems were no longer viewed solely as resources to be managed, but as living entities with the legal right to exist, thrive, regenerate, and evolve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through scientific research, legal innovation, informing policymakers, and international coalition-building, Veelenturf is helping transform that question into reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Conservation Scientist to Global Advocate<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Callie Veelenturf<\/strong><\/a> first gained international recognition through her work protecting endangered sea turtles throughout Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As founder of The Leatherback Project, she worked alongside local communities, fishers, scientists, Indigenous groups, and government agencies to protect critical habitats and address threats facing some of the world’s most endangered marine species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Callie Veelenturf – Building a Global Movement for Nature’s Rights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yet over time, her work revealed a larger challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protecting individual species was often insufficient when the legal systems governing society continued to treat Nature primarily as property. Lasting conservation required changing the underlying relationship between people and the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That realization led her to become one of the leading advocates for the Rights of Nature\u2014a rapidly growing movement that seeks to recognize Nature as a rights-bearing entity within legal and governance systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing forNature <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

forNature is a global initiative and foundation catalyzing high-impact protection measures for Nature and advocating for the recognition of the intrinsic Rights of Nature at local, national, regional, and multilateral levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, the National Geographic Society, in collaboration with The Alfred Kobacker and Elizabeth Trimbach Fund, proudly announced the launch of the For Nature program, led by Callie. For Nature embodies her audacious vision to advance the Rights of Nature Movement through science, education, and storytelling, including empowering and funding ten other National Geographic Explorers, who will bring this to life around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These Explorers will include scientists and community leaders working to protect species and ecosystems worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The For Nature program\u2019s mission extends beyond conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its goal is to help catalyze a cultural, legal, and institutional shift in how societies understand and govern their relationship with Nature. For Nature seeks to build a future where the protection of Nature is embedded into decision-making at every level of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From National Progress to Global Frameworks<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Among Callie Veelenturf’s most significant achievements has been her role in advancing Rights of Nature legislation in Panama, helping position the country as a global leader in environmental governance innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work reflects a growing recognition that traditional environmental protections alone may be insufficient to address today’s interconnected ecological challenges. Rights of Nature offers a different approach\u2014one that recognizes that human well-being, economic prosperity, and ecological health are fundamentally interconnected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movement has gained momentum across multiple continents, with communities, courts, and governments increasingly exploring how legal systems can better safeguard ecosystems, species, and future generations. Veelenturf has become one of the movement’s most visible and effective champions, helping translate these ideas into practical policy and legal frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That leadership was on display at EarthX 2026<\/strong><\/a>, where Veelenturf joined Panama’s Minister of Environment, Juan Carlos Navarro<\/a>, at the 2026 Nature Summit to highlight the growing partnership between Panama and forNature in support of the Universal Declaration of Nature’s Rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative represents one of the most ambitious efforts yet to establish a shared global framework recognizing the inherent rights of Nature to exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership is particularly significant because it demonstrates how Rights of Nature is evolving from a concept championed primarily by advocates and academics into a framework being advanced by governments themselves. Panama has emerged as one of the world’s leading laboratories for Rights of Nature implementation, demonstrating how these principles can be incorporated into national law, public policy, and environmental governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Callie Veelenturf, the long-term vision extends beyond any single country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights established a shared foundation for human dignity and fundamental freedoms, proponents of the Universal Declaration of Nature’s Rights seek to create a common set of principles that can guide environmental stewardship and governance in the twenty-first century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Frontier for Environmental Leadership<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a National Geographic Explorer, scientist with the United Nations Harmony with Nature Programme, and international advocate, Veelenturf represents a new generation of environmental leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work spans scientific discovery, public policy, legal reform, community engagement, philanthropy, and international diplomacy. More importantly, she is helping build a movement capable of operating across all of these arenas simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge facing humanity is no longer simply how to conserve Nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is how to redesign systems of governance, economics, and law so that humanity can thrive as part of Nature rather than apart from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the mission driving Callie Veelenturf through forNature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Rights of Nature movement remains one of the most consequential and rapidly evolving developments in global environmental governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few individuals have done more to accelerate its growth than Callie Veelenturf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By bringing together science, law, storytelling, policy, philanthropy, and government leadership, she is helping build a future in which Nature is no longer merely protected\u2014but recognized as a participant in the systems that determine its fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a century that will be defined by humanity’s relationship with the natural world, Callie Veelenturf is helping lead a movement to ensure that Nature has a voice of her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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