I like young people to know that they're extremely powerful. So I'm one person, but I think I always had this positive idea about my role. You cannot let anyone tell you what limitations are there, so you shouldn't feel limited by anyone telling you this is as far as you can go, or this is what you can do. I think only you know about that, and I think you start step by step. When I did the first case, I learned some things. Then was the next case. When the time to learn comes, learn with all your might because that's gold. It's a moment in life when you have the time to actually do that. Get informed. People who are into Googling everything should open up their searches, go out there, and learn in a different way. Don't hold back.
I guess the book was about giving hope because I realized how much we could do together. If a person can manage to argue and make a major impact in the way we are understanding treaties in human rights or other things, imagine what could be if every single person is in their own place in some field, with that alertness and synced in the same way. I believe that ordinary people are the ones bringing changes here. I believe that the communities gathering together – for example, I am seeing that in this country around the protection of rivers – are the ones that will mark the change. It's not going to come from above; it's going to come from below, up. And that means all of us. We all have a role.
To the young people, I would say you have the right to joy, and you have the right to be happy. Working for the protection of what we love the most will make you happy. So get into a positive mindset. Learn all you can. Be part of things that make you feel positive. You will see how you will find your way, and there is no place for feeling disempowered. This is the moment where you should feel very powerful because it is us who are going to make the future of this Earth.
Monica Feria-Tinta is a British-Peruvian barrister specialising in Public International Law. She has been called one of ‘the most daring, innovative and creative lawyers’ in the United Kingdom, and was shortlisted for “Barrister of the Year” at The Lawyers’ Awards 2020 and at Chambers and Partners UK Bar Awards 2023 for her work in addressing climate change and environmental degradation. In 2020, she acted before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador in Los Cedros case, the first ‘Rights of Nature’ case in the world. In September 2022 her work as Counsel secured a win in the Torres Strait Islanders case, a landmark moment in which the UN Human Rights Committee found a Sovereign state responsible, for the first time in history, for lack of action in addressing climate change. She is the author of A Barrister for the Earth: Ten Cases of Hope for Our Future.
MONICA FERIA-TINTA
I believe that ordinary people are the ones bringing about change. The communities that are gathering together, for example, around the protection of rivers, are the ones that will mark the change. It's not going to come from the top; it's always going to come from the ground up. That means all of us have a role. To the young people, I would say you have the right to joy, and you have the right to be happy. Working for the protection of what we love the most will make you happy. Get into a positive mindset. Learn all you can. Be part of things that make you feel positive. You will see how you will find your way, and there is no place for feeling disempowered. This is the moment where you should feel very powerful because it's us who are going to make the future of this earth.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
That's one of the areas of the world in which you've worked on behalf of the environment. I think this gives our listeners a good glimpse into your work. I'm just wondering why, at this time, did you decide to write the book and document these ten cases for hope? How is it important for you to reach audiences outside of legal frameworks?
FERIA-TINTA
What the stories in my book taught me and my clients was that the destruction in the Amazon, let’s say because of gas exploration, was deeply connected to where I was living. That gas was reaching the UK, or in the case of a coal mine, the devastation was so extensive and shocking. Companies were playing God by even changing the course of rivers to mine more coal. The scary thing is that I understood that to an extent, that destruction was the premise of our current model of our civilization because that coal was apparently needed. There was a demand for that in our world somewhere else. That was the shocking bit that I wanted to share and reflect on, and see how we could work to have a different world.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
Your book, A Barrister for the Earth, is really a powerful and inspiring David and Goliath story. You've been called one of the most daring, innovative, and creative lawyers in the United Kingdom. As a leading climate barrister, your book shares, just as you discuss these ten legal battles that give hope for the protection of the planet. But let's face it; we are coming up against the fossil fuel industry and, of course, our demand for oil and gas and all these coal and extractive practices. It's a challenging arena in which to operate, and we know they pay hundreds of millions to advertising firms, lobbyists, and other persuaders to keep polluting the planet and doing business as usual. What drives you to take on the fossil fuel industry and its cohorts?
FERIA-TINTA
My ancestors come from a beautiful area of the world in Re Kipa, Peru. It is the Calca Canyon area, where we have the deepest canyon in the world, home to birds like the condors. In the ancient thinking of my ancestors, we are of the mountain. In fact, the mountain is called Waka Waka, and she's female. The reason we consider her an ancestor is because the water from this volcano comes down onto the earth and irrigates the fields, helping to produce what people need to survive. In this traditional way of seeing life, they don’t view the mountain as something sterile and void of life. It's all the opposite. It is life, and it is an ancestor.
When I was writing the book, I realized that I was also a daughter of the mountain. This has shaped my identity and my thoughts, allowing me to understand the indigenous people's perspectives without feeling that they were coming from something completely foreign. Rather, it made a lot of sense.
I think this background helped me connect and rediscover some very important truths. This idea of being one with nature is not just the indigenous thinking; in the West, we have critical philosophers and biologists who have taught us exactly the same because they have observed that in nature. For example, one of these philosophers is Spinoza, who wrote important books explaining that we were one with nature. Biologists, from the beginning of major discoveries like Humboldt to more recent biologists studying biodiversity in our world, have equally taught us how everything is interconnected. My work is part of this valuable unity, where the world is really an organism we cannot be separated from.
Often, the moment we separate humanity from the earth, from the place where our brains have developed and where we have become biologically human, that fragmentation creates the world we are seeing now, which is in need of serious repair.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
We are an audio podcast, so people can't see the emotion welling up in your face as you speak about how we are all part of nature and your own background and indigenous beliefs. Your legal arguments often hinge on evidence from ecosystems that, to many of us, are invisible, like deep-sea zones or high-elevation forests. There is also the invisible toll of pesticides on birds and insects. What role does the unseen or ignored play in your litigation, and how can we convince courts to value what they cannot directly observe?
FERIA-TINTA
Actually, you are picking up on a very interesting notion. It's true, the notion of the unseen. One clear example was the cloud forest case. It was even unseen for me because I acted on this case from a distance. I never set foot in the cloud forest of Los Cedros, but that didn't stop me from advocating for the forest. The only way I could see the forest was through all the scientific studies that had already demonstrated the biological value of this cloud forest.
I was invited to produce a case; it was a forest facing destruction by a project intending to mine gold. This forest was extremely sensitive because, number one, it was an untouched forest. Second, it was located near the Ecuador line, which boasts significant biodiversity and many endemic species, both flora and fauna. In a small patch of earth, you could find a species that didn't exist anywhere else in the world, not even a bit farther in the same forest. That's the level of diversity we were dealing with, and most of it was still unknown to us. While what we knew and had studied was extremely special, among those species were fungi, the spectacle bear, and many types of frogs.
When I dove into the evidence of all that existed, I started to see it. One of the judges of the court said after the judgment was delivered that he was surprised that before granting the license for the mining project, the government had not made any assessments or taken the time to consider the scientific value of the place.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
You mentioned the value of forests. Often, we see forests just as timber resources, measuring them by the value we can extract. I believe that this sense of awe could awaken responsibility. Scientists testified to the extraordinary biodiversity of the forests, their mystery, evolutionary uniqueness, and in court. Does wonder matter? How do you tap into that wonder? Can the law be moved by beauty, mystery, the rare, and the sacred? How do you bring emotions into it to inspire the courts to care, and by extension, inspire humanity to care?
These things we talk about as the unseen. Sometimes this biodiversity is not in human-populated areas, leading to a lack of measurement. Even us going in can further threaten the biodiversity. How do you awaken that awe and better value things that resist measurement?
FERIA-TINTA
When it comes to advocacy in a courtroom, a lot of what an advocate does, especially a specialist in courts, is about storytelling. Storytelling is not separate from the process of lawmaking. The best lawyers are the best storytellers in court because it has to capture the imagination, it has to capture the tension, and you have to convey something very convincingly. You also have to put it in terms that are simple to grasp. The more complex the situation, the simpler the argument must be.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
When we look at the stars, it makes us happy because we have developed, evolved, and become human beings amid all of this. Courts are formed by people as well; judges are human. They can understand these fundamental concepts, particularly at this critical moment.
It's a form of self-defense, I would say. I think it's very related to that. We have the right to defend ourselves or speak out against the injustices in our livelihood on this planet.
You spoke about your background. You're from Peru and your indigenous heritage, and some of the strongest environmental defenders are those indigenous communities. Yet, law is not often written in their languages or shaped by their worldviews.
How can international law be decolonized to truly reflect the rights of nature and indigenous peoples, and not only protect them through these foreign frameworks?
FERIA-TINTA
I compare this debate to the discussions during colonial times, examining the attitude that Spain had towards indigenous peoples. The question back then was whether indigenous peoples had souls, and views treating them as subhuman. I draw a parallel because the destruction witnessed and documented runs parallel with the modern, massive destruction today.
The case of the Wayúu with its coal mine shows how they survived the colonial invasion of the Spanish but are hardly surviving today due to dispossession and contamination inflicted by major corporate fossil fuel companies based in Europe. This is a way of colonization—taking away and denying the dignity of people and with them their beliefs and their right to exist together in their traditional lands. This is a critical topic running throughout the book.
The UN has acknowledged that one of the most important catalysts for change has been core cases brought by average people. The changes and actions didn't come from the cops; they came from ordinary people going to court and saying, "This is happening. I want a solution." That had public impact, to the point that further action must come. Not long ago, climate change wasn't even considered a human rights issue. Now, that is undeniable. Where was that established? In court cases that were brought.
People desire a different style of life, one where they are not just consumers, but individuals who appreciate nature and don't want to see it destroyed due to their insatiable hunger for buying things.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST
Yes, it's important, and I appreciate seeing those other mechanisms for truly enforcing change, which is an essential piece of the puzzle. As you share your passion, I wonder who you attribute that fire to—what teachers, mentors, parents, or support groups instilled those values in you and your desire to make change in the world.
FERIA-TINTA
I was very connected to the sea, having lived all my life in a coastal city. I feel at home when I am by the sea, and I have a deep love for it. Anyone who has lived by the sea would know that I need to smell it, see it, and feel it. My partner, Klemens Felder is from the mountains in Austria. He used to climb mountains and studied forestry, giving him a good knowledge of trees and nature. He started teaching me about different species during our walks.
I think my interest in birds stemmed from my own migration and understanding how these tiny bird species make unbelievable journeys to survive seasonally. The respect I gained was incredible, considering how they arrive at a certain time and manage to survive.
Throughout my life, I received lessons from nature—its resilience, how fallen trees start growing again. When you see yourself falling, suffering, etc., you look at nature and observe how persistent and renewing everything is. You can see yourself as capable of that. My mother taught me that water can pierce stone, which demonstrates that persistence creates change. I think that is essential; I needed to be persistent in my work, something I learned from both nature and my mother.
Be creative about how you learn from where it starts. I mean, I began with my professors and utilized all my opportunities, although I was challenged arriving in the UK as a refugee. I took the time to read every judgment in the syllabus, and when I did that, everything began making sense in my mind. Then new connections started forming, leading to wonderful ideas, fresh perspectives, and new contributions to the field. That process is wonderful. Working for the protection of what we love the most will make you happy.
