Gathering Knowledge, Pushing Norms: An Introduction to the Ecological Jurisprudence Monitor

The Eco-Jurisprudence Monitor is an interactive online platform that compiles ecological jurisprudence initiatives globally as well as related resources for researchers, policymakers, lawyers, and activists. The rapid growth in the number of ecological law initiatives, as well as their varied legal and cultural expressions, presents an obstacle to those seeking to advance more eco-centric legal and governance systems to help enact the change needed to address looming environmental crises. The EJ Monitor is meant to help overcome this problem and provide information resources people can use to promote change.

The EJ Monitor includes initiatives reflecting many different cultural expressions of ecological law, from rights-based approaches to those emphasizing responsibility and reciprocity, as well as various Indigenous models and other forms of traditional ecological knowledge. The EJ Monitor includes four main programs. The EJ Tracker, which compiles ecological law initiatives from around the world and allows users to interact with the information through a map interface, a keyword search engine, or to select initiatives with characteristics they are most interested in. The On the Ground Strategies & Stories page provides rich description and context about individual initiatives and allows activists to tell their stories in their own words, as well as provide information about how other might become involved in their initiative. The EJ Toolkit allows users to access the original documents related to ecological law initiatives to show the different kinds of legal provisions that may be used to advance ecological law. The EJ Resources page contains reports analyzing patterns and trends regarding ecological law. Over time, we plan to add searchable databases of existing publications on ecological jurisprudence as well as researchers actively working on the topic. The EJ Monitor will be open access and is expected to become live by early Fall 2022.