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When I teach domestic or international environmental law, I often ask students early on: Why should we protect the environment? What should the goal of environmental law be? Sometimes, they say that we should protect the environment for its own sake. The species and ecosystems that make up the natural world, and perhaps the natural world itself, should be recognized as having intrinsic value, apart from whatever value they provide human beings. This way of looking at the world has deep roots in Indigenous worldviews, and it has many adherents today. Its influence can be seen in laws such as the Endangered Species Act, which protect species regardless of whether they provide benefits in measurable, human terms. Nevertheless, students usually say that the most compelling reason to protect the environment is to protect human beings.

The quest for environmental justice is also a quest for environmental human rights. The fight is the same fight, and the lessons learned in one arena can help in the other.

Introduced last month, the Advancing Human Rights-Centered International Conservation Act comes in the wake of a 2019 news investigation that described many instances of alleged murder, rape, and torture by park rangers against Indigenous people and local communities. The alleged abuses were perpetrated at parks supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which received millions of dollars in funding from the U.S. government.