Cormac Cullinan

Cormac Cullinan is a director of the Wild Law Institute and a director of Cullinan & Associates Inc, a leading environmental law firm in Cape Town, South Africa. He has drafted environmental laws, policies and strategies and advised on institutional reforms in more than 20 countries, gaining extreme depth and breadth of expertise in environmental law and governance.

Cullinan’s groundbreaking book, Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, developed the ‚Earth Jurisprudence‘ approach and helped inspire the growing global movement for the rights of nature. In April 2010, he also spearheaded the drafting of the Universal Declaration of ‚Rights of Mother Earth‘ in Bolivia and was one of the founders of the ‚Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature‘. In addition, he authored the Peoples‘ Convention that established the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature. This tribunal was established as an ethical court of representatives* from all continents in Quito in 2014. In 2015, Cullinan was president of the International Tribunal of the Rights of Nature in Paris. From 2019 to 2021, Cullinan served as president of the European Rights of Nature Tribunal. He has spoken at conferences around the world on Earth and Rights of Nature jurisprudence, including at the UN General Assembly in 2011.

Cormac Cullinan is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and campaigner for environmental sustainability. In 2008 he was named one of the most influential economists* for his pioneering work in environmental law in the book ‚Planet Savers: 301 extraordinary environmentalists‘. He was also presented with the Nick Steele Award as South African Economist of the Year in 2012.

Cormac Cullinan is also known as one of the authors of the book ‚Pluriverse – A Post-Development Dictionary‘, which inspired the PLURIVERSUM event series.