“Groundbreaking Initiative Launches to Transform Forest and Land Protection and Regeneration”
Wednesday 29 May, 2024 – Last week marked the launch of a pioneering initiative with the aim of revolutionizing how we care for our forests and lands. Developed over a span of five years through extensive collaboration and attentive listening, “Rooted in Ethics: The Community Tree Stewardship Framework” presents a set of life-affirming guidelines, ethical principles, and operational practices for forest and land protection and regeneration.
Co-created with representation from Original Peoples and Nations, Rooted in Ethics advocates for and champions the restoration of land and forests in a manner that respects and honors the rights of Nature, communities, and cultures.
This framework promotes best practices in tree care and community empowerment, emphasizing the need for representation and community-led decision-making at both systemic and organizational levels. By offering ethical approaches to restoring forests and lands and securing funding that meets their needs, the framework and its accompanying Practices Guide seek to empower local communities as stewards of their environments.
Additionally, the framework aims to initiate constructive discussions and provide practical guidelines for organizations, businesses, and local governing bodies to adopt, complementing existing standards. It advocates for the inherent rights of Nature and explores the potential implications of considering Nature as conscious and intelligent, highlighting the importance of caring for the planet we all call home.
Suzi Steer, lead author on behalf of TreeSisters, expressed her excitement about the launch, stating, “Rooted in Ethics is a significant milestone in our collective journey towards a positive future and a more harmonious relationship with Nature. By bridging the deep knowledge of Original Principles with the best scientific research practices, we hope to spark a public conversation about our connection to Nature and inspire positive action towards peaceful coexistence.”
Mindahi Bastida of the Otomi-Toltec of Central Mexico, Lead Author for The Fountain, also shared his thoughts on the project, saying, “Working on Rooted in Ethics has been very meaningful because, at the beginning, we were looking at ethics from the Western point of view related to Nature. Then we saw that those kinds of ethics, the rational ethics coming from humans, encounter these other ethics coming from Mother Earth and Father Sky. They complemented each other, and it’s beautiful because it’s an intention, a way of bringing together this ancestral wisdom, and it’s very powerful. We not only have ethics as humans, but these are ethics for all species.”
Rooted in Ethics: The Community Tree Stewardship Framework is not just a vision for the future; it is a call to action – a call to bridge divisions and collaborate for a world where Nature and humanity can thrive.
For further information or inquiries about Rooted in Ethics, please visit our website or contact us at learning@treesisters.org.
This news story was distributed by https://pressat.co.uk/
