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About Us

OUR TEAM

zoe

Zoe Lujic
Initiator and leader of the initiative

Rights of Nature and permaculture advocate, founder of Earth Thrive org, for promotion and respect of Nature’s right to life, to thrive, regenerate and

evolve naturally.

Holds MSc in Environmental Decision Making and is award winning permaculture and RoN practitioner.

Champions Nature rights in her native Balkans and the beloved Mediterranean

Gary

Gary Friedlander
RoN legal advisor

Gary Friedlander is an Earth Law Fellow and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law (UIC Law). Mr. Friedlander earned his JD from the UIC Law in 1987 and BS from

Northwestern University in 1982. He is a member of the Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, and U.S. Supreme Court bars.
Mr. Friedlander is also a photographer focusing his work on Nature, from macro to astrophotography.

From July 2022 to July 2023, Mr. Friedlander served as the Interim Director of UIC Law’s Center for Intellectual Property, Information & Privacy Law.  

Prior to his retirement, after 45 years in the corporate world, Mr. Friedlander was a Senior Legal Executive with a multinational corporation and served as a subject matter expert for a variety of legislative, regulatory, and business issues. He oversaw and managed a large team of in-house attorneys located on five continents supporting over 30 countries.

Somabha

Dr Somabha Bandopadhay
Legal RoN expert and co-author of the Declaration

Assistant Professor, National Forensic Sciences University, Government of India, Delhi.
Somabha is also one of initiators and

Facilitator of the Asia-Pacific Hub of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature – GARN

Eduardo Salazar Ortuño
RoN Legal Advisor

Rights of Nature advocate, lawyer, Adjunct Professor at the Univerity of Murcia and counsel of environmental law at EcoJusticia. Together with Teresa Vicente, he was a lead voice in achieving

first ever rights of Nature legal recognition for an ecosystem in Europe – Mar Menor coastal lagune in Spain

Grant Wilson
RoN Legal Advisor

Grant Wilson, Esq., is the Executive Director of Earth Law Center. He is an expert on the Rights of Nature, ecocentric law, and international environmental law and a member of the :

World Commission on Environmental Law and the UN Harmony with Nature Initiative

Ninon Crasnier
RoN Legal Intern

Ninon is a French graduate with a Master 1 in Public International Law. She will be pursuing a Master 2 in Public International Law with a specialization in Oceans, Environment, and

Sustainability at Utrecht University next year. She is currently working as an intern at Earth Law Center where she is contributing to legal research and advocacy focused on ocean protection and the rights of nature. Through ELC partnership Ninon is working with our core team on various aspects of the Declaration initiative.

Marie Toussaint
Political advisor

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present and Vice-Chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. In 2015, Toussaint founded Notre affaire à tous, an NGO defending a

right to climate justice. She is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development and the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, amongst other.
She is leading the EU’s environmental crime directive for the Greens in the Parliament and supports protection of the environment through criminal law, including ecocide being made a crime in the EU.

01-LOGO-Rights-of-the-Mediterranean

Rachelle Adams
Legal RoN expert and co-author of the Declaration

Rachelle has 25 years of experience in Rights of Nature legal issues.
As an attorney for Israel’s Environment Ministry, she worked extensively on

Nature protection and biodiversity issues.

She sits on the Earth Law Center Board of Directors and teaches environmental law at Law Faculty at Hebrew University in Jerusalem

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