Title II · Ecological Order · Public Register of the Republic of Fluid

18

Rights of natural entities

Nature holds rights to exist, to function and to be restored, whether or not a statute names it.

1.Nature holds the right to exist, to persist, to maintain its cycles, structures and functions, and to be restored where it has been damaged.
2.These rights belong to ecosystems, watersheds, watercourses, aquifers, forests, wetlands, soils, coastal and marine systems, the atmosphere, and to species and their populations, whether or not any statute names them.
3.Organic law may name particular entities and confer legal personality upon them. Absence of such naming diminishes no right under this Article.
4.The rights of nature bind public authorities, communes, regions, planning bodies, cooperatives, associations and persons alike.

19

Standing

Anyone at all may sue on nature's behalf, with no fee and no need to show personal harm.

1.Any person may bring an action in the name of a natural entity to prevent, halt or remedy a violation of Article 18. No showing of personal injury, residence, nationality or economic interest is required.
2.Communes, regions, cooperatives, unions, scientific institutions, associations and the Ecological Budget Authority hold the same standing.
3.Court fees, security for costs and adverse costs orders are excluded in actions under this Article, except where the court finds the action vexatious.
4.A settlement or withdrawal in an action under this Article takes effect only upon judicial approval, and the court may substitute another applicant to continue the proceedings.

20

Guardianship and remedies

Whoever harms nature must restore it from their own resources, and can be held personally liable.

1.Where an entity is named under Article 18(3), the court or the organic law appoints guardians who act in its interest and account publicly for their conduct. Guardianship confers no ownership and no power of disposal.
2.Remedies comprise cessation, interim injunction, restoration of the affected system to its prior condition, compensation applied to that system in priority to any other claimant, and where restoration is impossible, permanent protection of an equivalent system.
3.Restoration is owed by the author of the harm in labour, materials and energy drawn from that author's own resource allocation.
4.Officers and members who decided upon or executed the harmful act are personally liable, and the liability of an organisation extinguishes no personal liability.
5.Grave and either widespread or long-lasting damage to a natural system constitutes the offence of ecocide, prosecuted under Title VIII.

21

Foreign economic entities

Foreign firms operate only on a revocable licence, under stricter duties, and hold no rights from Title III.

1.Enterprises, cooperatives and associations constituted under foreign law, or controlled from abroad, may carry on economic activity in the Republic only under a public licence, revocable and limited in time.
2.Such entities hold the rights conferred by their licence and by statute. The constitutional guarantees attaching to the forms of social ownership under Article 6 do not extend to them.
3.The Republic may reserve sectors to domestic social ownership, set quantitative ceilings on imports, impose sourcing, disclosure, labour, ecological and reparation duties stricter than those borne by domestic organisations, and require the transfer of technique to the knowledge commons as a condition of licence.
4.In any proceeding under this Title, a foreign economic entity bears the burden of proving that its activity conforms to the applicable ecological budgets.
5.A foreign economic entity may challenge a measure of ecological or economic protection on grounds of procedural regularity alone, and may invoke no right under Title III, which is reserved to natural persons.
6.In no case may the Republic be submitted to foreign or arbitral jurisdiction in a dispute with such an entity. Disputes are heard by the courts of the Republic.
7.This Article applies to entities. Natural persons hold the rights guaranteed in Title III irrespective of nationality, residence or status.

22

Steady state

Total energy and material use is capped at a safe level, and efficiency gains buy sufficiency and reduce throughput.

1.The aggregate throughput of energy and materials of the Republic is held constant at the safe level determined under this Chapter.
2.Where measured throughput exceeds the safe level, a binding schedule of reduction applies until the level is reached, whereupon the cap holds.
3.Gains in efficiency, technique or organisation are applied to sufficiency of provision, restoration of damaged systems, reduction of working time, durability of goods and the reserve margin. In no case are they applied to an expansion of throughput.
4.Output, provision and quality of life may rise only within a constant throughput.
5.The cap is expressed both in aggregate and per resident, and revision of either figure follows Article 25.

23

Content of the budgets

The budgets set ceilings for energy, materials, emissions, water, land, nutrients, toxins and harvests.

1.
The ecological budgets fix, for the Republic and for each region and watershed, the ceilings and floors governing:
1. a)primary energy supplied, by source;
2. b)materials extracted, imported and placed in use, by mass and by category;
3. c)greenhouse gas emissions, together with a cumulative budget expressed as a total remaining quantity;
4. d)freshwater abstraction and return, computed per basin;
5. e)conversion, sealing and degradation of land and soil;
6. f)nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrient flows;
7. g)release of toxic and novel substances;
8. h)harvest of forests, fisheries and other living populations, set below documented regeneration;
9. i)the minimum area and connectivity of habitat held in protection;
10. j)the minimum quantity of restoration owed in each period.
2.Materials and energy embodied in imports are counted against the budgets of the Republic. In no case may a domestic ceiling be discharged by purchase of an offset, credit or entitlement outside the territory.
3.Budgets are set for periods of five years, with annual ceilings within each period.

24

The Ecological Budget Authority

An independent scientific Authority sets the budgets, publishes everything, and cannot be defunded mid-term.

1.The Ecological Budget Authority determines the ecological budgets. It is independent of the executive committees, of the planning bodies and of the Assembly.
2.Its members are appointed for a single term of nine years from among persons of established scientific standing in the earth, life and ecological sciences, in ecological economics and in the knowledge of the territory, by the procedure of organic law, which secures disciplinary diversity and excludes appointment by any single organ.
3.A member may be removed during the term only by judgment of the Constitutional Court for incapacity or grave misconduct, and holds no other public office, no office in an economic organisation and no interest in any licensed foreign entity.
4.Its resources are fixed as a share of the plan, and in no case may they be reduced by any organ during a term.
5.It may require from any organ, commune, region, cooperative or licensed entity any information, measurement, sample or access necessary to its function, and it maintains the monitoring system of Article 35.
6.It publishes its data, methods, models, assumptions and the identity and reasoning of dissenting members. Deliberations conducted in secret produce no valid budget.

25

Procedure

Budgets are built from workplace reports, assembly objections, local studies and local knowledge.

1.
Before adopting a budget the Authority collects and examines:
1. a)the ecological reports of cooperatives and enterprises on their own operations;
2. b)the reports and objections of worker assemblies, consumer assemblies and unions;
3. c)the ecological studies and monitoring records of communes and regions;
4. d)the knowledge held by inhabitants of the affected territory concerning its condition and history;
5. e)independent scientific work submitted by any person or institution.
2.Failure to furnish a report required under paragraph 1(a) is an offence and grounds for suspension of the resource allocation of the organisation in default.
3.The draft budget is published for ninety days. Every substantiated objection receives a written and public answer, and the final budget states the changes made in consequence.
4.Any person may petition for revision upon new evidence. The Authority answers within ninety days, and its refusal is reviewable under Article 27.
5.A region or commune may adopt local limits stricter than the budget. Adoption of weaker limits is void.
6.Revision that raises a ceiling requires published evidence that the higher figure remains within documented regenerative capacity, together with the concurring opinion of the scientific institutions designated by organic law.

26

Binding force

The budgets bind the plan, anything exceeding them is void, and essentials keep priority.

1.The ecological budgets bind the economic plan, the organs of planning, the executive committees, the communes, the regions, the cooperatives and every licensed entity.
2.A plan, programme, licence, permit, contract or administrative act that exceeds an applicable budget is void to the extent of the excess and confers no right.
3.Distribution of the budget among regions, sectors and enterprises belongs to the planning bodies of Title IV, which allocate according to the satisfaction of essential needs in the order established there, to the equality of provision between territories, and to the least throughput sufficient to the purpose.
4.Where an allocation is exhausted, production dependent upon it halts, and the essential provision guaranteed under Title IV holds priority over all other use.
5.Aggregation, transfer or trading of allocations between enterprises is permitted only under the procedure of organic law, within a sector, without any consideration passing, and with no increase in the total.

27

Judicial enforcement

A chamber of the Constitutional Court enforces the budgets and can order restoration.

1.The Ecological Chamber of the Constitutional Court hears actions under this Title. Its composition and procedure are governed by Title VIII.
2.It may annul the offending act, enjoin the activity in the interim, order restoration on a fixed timetable, order the sequestration of resources sufficient to accomplish it, and declare the personal liability of those responsible.
3.Interim relief is granted where a credible risk of irreversible harm is shown, and the applicant furnishes no security.
4.Scientific uncertainty concerning the extent of a harm justifies no refusal of relief.
5.Judgments and their execution are published and monitored, and the Chamber reports annually on compliance.

28

Water

Water is common, managed by watershed, and a dwelling can never be cut off.

1.Water is a common good. Access to water sufficient for life, hygiene and dignity is guaranteed under Title III and precedes every other use.
2.The watershed is the unit of water administration, and its boundaries govern in preference to administrative divisions.
3.Abstraction beyond documented recharge is prohibited. Ecological flows are fixed for every watercourse, and in no case may a plan reduce them.
4.Any grant of water to an economic organisation is a revocable usufruct, unassignable and untradeable.
5.Discharge of untreated effluent to any water body is prohibited, and the author of a contamination bears its remediation.

29

Land, soil and food

Land is held in trust and allocated for use, and hoarding it or ruining the soil is prohibited.

1.Land is held under the common heritage of Article 9 and is allocated as revocable usufruct conditioned upon use and upon maintenance of the soil.
2.Accumulation of land beyond the limits fixed by organic law is prohibited, as is holding land unused where a communal need for it is established.
3.Loss of topsoil beyond documented formation, sealing of fertile land, and conversion of primary habitat are prohibited.
4.The Republic pursues food sovereignty, sustaining the capacity to feed its population from its own territory within the budgets of this Title.
5.Agriculture conserves soil life, diversity of crop and breed, and the seed heritage, which belongs to the knowledge commons under Article 10.
6.Cultivated varieties, breeds and cultivation techniques developed by inhabitants are recorded and protected, and their appropriation by exclusive right is void.

30

Forests, wetlands, coasts and sea

Old forests, peat, wetlands, dunes, reefs and seagrass cannot be converted, and seabed mining is banned.

1.Primary forests, old growth, peatlands, wetlands, dunes, reefs and seagrass meadows are inalienable and are protected against conversion.
2.Harvest of forests and of living marine populations remains below documented regeneration, computed for each population.
3.Coastal land within the strip fixed by organic law is public, open to passage, and closed to construction except for works serving navigation, rescue or ecological protection.
4.Extraction from the seabed is prohibited. Organic law may permit works of restoration, cable laying and scientific investigation.

31

Biodiversity and animals

Species and habitats are protected, and animals kept for food live close to natural conditions.

1.The Republic maintains and restores the diversity of species, populations and habitats within its territory, and habitat connectivity is a condition of validity of every spatial plan.
2.Extinction of a population by an act or omission of a public organ or an economic organisation engages the liability established in Article 20.
3.Sentient animals hold the right to be free from avoidable suffering, mutilation and confinement incompatible with their nature. Organic law establishes the conditions of their keeping, transport and killing, and the inspection that enforces them.
4.Deliberate introduction of a species outside its range requires authorisation founded on ecological assessment.
5.Animals kept for food are raised in conditions approximating their natural upbringing, with outdoor ranging, social grouping and the expression of behaviour characteristic of the species. Confinement systems that prevent these conditions are prohibited, and the stocking densities, transport times and methods of killing are fixed by organic law.
6.Where the Ecological Budget Authority certifies that cultured meat produced without killing is available in quantity sufficient to the nutritional needs registered under Article 7(4) and within the budgets of this Title, the killing of sentient animals for food ceases to be necessary, and organic law extends the rights guaranteed in paragraph 3 accordingly, naming any case in which killing remains lawful. The Assembly considers the extension within one year of certification.

32

Energy

The energy system is socially owned, fossil extraction is banned, and nuclear is transitional only.

1.The energy system is held in social ownership, planned as a single system, and operated within the ceilings of Article 23(1)(a).
2.Extraction of fossil fuels within the territory is prohibited. Combustion of fossil fuels is phased out on the binding schedule fixed by organic law, and the schedule may be shortened and may not be lengthened.
3.Sources are selected within the budget according to the least cumulative harm across the whole life of the installation, including construction, fuel, land occupied, waste and decommissioning.
4.Provision of energy sufficient for heating, cooking, light, communication and mobility is guaranteed under Title IV, and in no case is it interrupted for a reason of allocation.
5.Installations are sited by procedure that secures the participation of the affected commune and the compensation of burdens it bears for the whole.
6.Nuclear fission is permitted as a transitional source. Authorisation of a new installation lapses on the date certified by the Ecological Budget Authority as that on which the whole of the energy supplied is drawn from renewable sources, and operating installations are retired on the schedule fixed by organic law from that date. Organic law governs siting, operation, custody of waste for the whole period of its activity, and decommissioning, and the labour, materials and energy required for custody and decommissioning are reserved within the plan before operation begins.

33

Materials, durability and circulation

Goods must last, be repairable by their user, and return their materials to use.

1.Goods are designed for the longest service life attainable, for repair by their user, for disassembly and for the recovery of their materials.
2.Deliberate limitation of service life, obstruction of repair, and withholding of the information, tools, parts or software necessary to repair are prohibited.
3.Every product carries a public record of its materials, its origin, its energy of production, its expected life and its route of recovery.
4.The producer bears the return, repair, reuse and recovery of what it places in use, and this duty is a charge upon its resource allocation.
5.Landfill and incineration are the residual routes, permitted where reuse and recovery are shown to be impossible.

34

Pollution, toxic substances and remediation

Pollution needs a permit within the ceilings, and dumping burdens on poor areas is prohibited.

1.Release of a substance to air, water or soil is lawful only within the ceilings of Article 23 and under permit.
2.A substance whose effects are undetermined is introduced only after assessment, and the burden of demonstrating harmlessness lies upon whoever proposes its use.
3.Substances that persist, accumulate in living tissue or damage inheritance are prohibited, except for uses named in organic law as necessary in medicine or science and confined by strict conditions.
4.Contaminated sites are inventoried, published and remediated on a binding timetable, and where the author is identifiable the cost falls upon that author.
5.Concentration of polluting activity in territories inhabited by the poor, by minorities or by any group defined by origin, language or belief is prohibited, and the distribution of ecological burdens is reviewable under Article 27.

35

Ecological information

Ecological data is measured continuously and published, and falsifying it is a crime.

1.The condition of the territory, the flows of energy and materials, the discharges of every installation, and compliance with the budgets are measured continuously and published in open, machine-readable and permanent form.
2.Ecological information is public. Commercial confidentiality is no ground for withholding it, and any withholding requires a reasoned decision reviewable within thirty days.
3.Falsification, concealment or destruction of ecological data is an offence, and the persons who ordered and who executed it are liable.
4.Persons who disclose evidence of ecological harm or of falsification are protected against reprisal, and their protection is enforceable in the courts.

36

Ecological emergency

The Authority may declare an ecological emergency, which lapses unless the Assembly confirms it.

1.Upon evidence of imminent and grave ecological harm, the Ecological Budget Authority declares an ecological emergency, defining its territory, its duration and the measures required.
2.The declaration takes immediate effect. It lapses after one hundred and eighty days unless the Assembly confirms it, and confirmation may be renewed for the same period.
3.Emergency measures may restrict production, transport, extraction and discharge, and may direct labour and materials to protection and restoration.
4.In no case does a declaration under this Article suspend the essential provision of Title IV, the rights guaranteed in Title III or the procedures of Title V.
5.The declaration and every measure taken under it are reviewable under Article 27 at the instance of any person.

Ecological Order

Chapter 1 · Rights of Nature