Give the Earth
its rank.
THE MISSING RULE
Wherever the functioning of the Earth system is at risk, its integrity must have superior legal rank.
A constitution, not a government. Eight principles. A narrow mandate. Democratic legitimacy. Independent judicial review.
Three decades of climate negotiations. Under current policies, warming still reaches about 2.8 °C.
Source: UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2025
What exists – and what is still missing
Rights can give nature a voice. But voice alone does not decide a conflict, and rank without enforcement does not hold.
No world government. Limited responsibility for genuinely planetary risks.
One rule. Many effects.
Superior legal rank is not one more environmental programme. It works in many fields at the same time – not in one single topic.
It takes an alliance.
17 initial signatories · 8 countries · in personal capacity (as of 27 October 2026).
Not a petition: a founding group that carries the rule into institutions.
New Zealand
Law and governance
Dr Klaus Bosselmann
Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Auckland
Switzerland
Medicine and ethics
Dr Jean Martin, MD, MSPH
Public health physician, former member of the Swiss Federal Commission on Biomedical Ethics, former member of the Canton of Vaud Parliament
Nigeria
Civil society
Nnimmo Bassey
Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF)
Switzerland
Law and politics
Luc Recordon
Physicist-engineer (dipl. EPFL), attorney, Doctor of Law, former member of the Swiss Council of States
Switzerland
Literature
Christophe Gallaz
Writer and columnist
South Africa
Publishing and civil society
GB Langa
Sustainability writer and publisher, Founder and Group CEO, The Langa Family Investments group
Denmark
Earth system science
Katherine Richardson
Professor in Biological Oceanography, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen
Germany
Sustainability and sociology
Dietmar Küther
Corporate sustainability manager and sociologist, Freiburg, Basel
Germany
Sustainability studies
Prof. Dr. Michael von Kutzschenbach
Kutzschenbach Institute for Sustainability Studies, Freiburg
Switzerland
Medicine
Prof. Dr. med. Eric Bonvin
Psychiatrist and psychotherapist, social and cultural anthropologist, University of Lausanne
Switzerland
Philosophy
Prof. honoraire Dominique Bourg
University of Lausanne
Nigeria
Environmental law
Professor Ngozi Unuigbe
Professor of International Environmental Law, Policy and Ethics, University of Benin
Brazil
Climate science
Prof. Carlos A. Nobre
Professor Emeritus of Climate and Sustainability, University of São Paulo
Switzerland
Art and culture
Beat Toniolo
Artist and cultural mediator
India
Climate and ocean science
Dr Roxy Mathew Koll
Climate Scientist, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune
Switzerland
Law and public office
lic. iur. et phil. Louis Kuhn
Former Ombudsman of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft
Switzerland
Theology
Joseph Thali
Theologian
How it becomes law.
Step by step – the alliance first. Each step carries the next. The Declaration develops through a defined consultation, not endless debate.
Initiated by Donald C. Jacob · Verein Constitution of Earth, Basel