The Earth Rights Research and Action (TERRA) Clinic

Introduction

The Earth Rights Research and Action (TERRA) Clinic combines the tools and tactics of international environmental law and human rights to preserve the conditions for life on Earth for current and future generations of humans and non-humans. Working closely with NGOs, scientists, lawyers, social movements, UN agencies, and grassroots communities from around the world, TERRA students work on cases and projects involving creative litigation in multiple jurisdictions, transnational advocacy campaigns, and strategic research and communications. TERRA’s projects tackle existential challenges to environmental justice and human rights, including the climate emergency, the destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems, threats to Indigenous peoples’ rights and territories, and the violation of animal and other species' rights.

Course Description

Seminar

The seminar focuses on substantive topics and practical skills that future lawyers will need to address the interrelated challenges of social and environmental injustice with the speed and scale that the ongoing planetary emergencies require. Through readings and multimedia materials; problem-solving exercises; and guest lectures by prominent practitioners, scientists, and experts from around the world, we will cover topics such as: the recent convergence between international environmental law and human rights; the ongoing wave of rights-based climate change litigation in international and domestic jurisdictions; the profound and disproportionate impact of environmental destruction on the rights of vulnerable communities and the intersections between struggles for environmental justice and struggles against other forms of inequality (from racial, gender, and ethnic inequalities to domestic socioeconomic inequity and North-South global inequalities); the leading role of the transnational Indigenous peoples’ movements in legal actions and campaigns to protect forests, oceans, and other key ecosystems; rights-based legal actions to protect global biodiversity; and the growing trend towards the recognition of animal rights and the rights of nature more broadly.

Given the existential nature of the challenges we will address, the seminar promotes reflexivity and introspection about the personal components of our work. What does it mean to be a lawyer in the Anthropocene, the new epoch of Earth’s history in which humans have become the driving planetary force? What type of professional and personal commitments can contribute to developing impactful actions in the time we have left to avert the worst scenarios of the Anthropocene’s environmental and social emergencies? How can we build stronger bridges between the environmental rights movement and other movements for racial, ethnic, economic, and global justice?

Projects and Fieldwork

Students will be assigned to a clinical project, taking their preferences into consideration. In line with the clinic’s collaborative and global approach, TERRA projects are conducted in close partnership with organizations, communities, and individuals in different regions of the world. All TERRA projects involve students in immersive fieldwork in diverse regions of the world. In addition to fieldwork, projects usually entail a wide range of activities, including data gathering, legal research, strategic planning with local and international networks, and creative communications and narratives work. Serving as strategic partners, legal advisers, counsel or co-counsel, TERRA students work with grassroots communities and local NGOs, contribute to the development of litigation tactics, help launch or nurture transnational advocacy networks and coalitions, and engage with scientists and experts in a wide range of institutions.

In 2025-26, projects that students may participate in include:

• Working with TERRA's More-Than-Human Rights (MOTH) on the cutting-edge of interdisciplinary legal advocacy for climate and biodiversity protection, while connecting different parts of the more-than-human rights field and cohering a larger community of practice and knowledge. MOTH projects may encompass:
  • Exploring the intersections between ecology and technology, working to guide the current and future applications of new technologies to both support the more-than-human world while also mitigating the risks these technologies pose. This may involve developing legal initiatives that use the law to recognize the agency and creativity of the more-than-human world while also creating safeguards to protect nonhumans against the potential consequences of the rapid development of new technologies.
  • Working closely with mycologists as well as legal partners in foreign jurisdictions to develop a case that uses fungal science to protect an ecosystem key to biodiversity or the climate system. This may involve laying out and developing the legal theories for translating fungal science into enhanced environmental protections.
  • Advancing a rights of nature approach to the protection of the world’s oceans by implementing innovative actions focused on the recognition of the legal personality and protection of whales and other ocean beings in foreign and international jurisdictions. This effort may involve designing and implementing strategic, creative initiatives – ranging from solving evidentiary gaps to developing compelling legal arguments for the recognition of whales and marine ecosystems as legal persons.
• Working with TERRA's Climate Law Accelerator (CLX) on interdisciplinary legal action and advocacy for communities impacted by climate change. This line of work entails legal actions that seek to pressure governments and corporate actors to step up their efforts to address climate change, as well as to hold them accountable for human rights harms and ecological impacts stemming from their policies and operations. CLX projects may encompass:
  • Formulating legal and quasi-legal strategies to pursue reparations for communities most affected by climate change, including the devastating impacts of extreme heat. This process may entail extensive research and consultation with legal and scientific experts, focusing on local jurisprudence, political dynamics, and scientific data related to climate impacts. It may also involve conducting individual interviews, group workshops, and community surveys to comprehensively grasp both historical and ongoing climate-related consequences.
  • Providing support for climate litigation in international, regional, or domestic courts through the submission of amicus curiae briefs..
• Working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Special Rapporteurship on the Environment and Human Rights, and an international network of advocates and experts on strategies to advance the newly recognized international right to a healthy environment. This effort may include NYU Law’s R2HE Toolkit, aimed at advancing and implementing this crucial right through publication of reports and case studies.
• Collaborating with Indigenous leaders and nations spanning from Brazil to the Philippines to further legal cases and advocacy campaigns that advance their collective rights and protect their territories. Such topics have included the Yanomami genocide in Brazil, the establishment of Indigenous ministries in federal governments of the Global South, and the relationship between green capitalism and violations of Indigenous rights. 

Learning Outcomes

Through the seminar and clinical work, students will develop professional skills that will enable them to contribute to these and other causes. As studies in social innovation and creative lawyering show, solutions to the increasingly complex threats to life on Earth require interdisciplinary tools, effective collaboration across national and organizational borders, and systemic approaches that capture the interconnections between environmental and social challenges. Upon successful completion of the seminar and clinical components of the TERRA Clinic, students should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge and skills.

• Knowledge of environmental and human rights law in regard to:
  • The climate emergency and rights-based climate litigation
  • The biodiversity emergency
  • The right to a healthy environment
  • Indigenous rights
  • Environmental justice
  • Rights of nature and more-than-human rights
  • Ecological thinking
  • The theory and practice of ethnography
• Skills:
  • Strategic case-building and prototyping of legal actions
  • Identification of issues in emerging legal contexts
  • Translation of science into legal arguments
  • Interdisciplinary collaboration
  • Design-thinking
  • Impactful facilitation
  • Effective presentation and communication
  • Fundraising
  • Futures thinking
  • Long-term strategizing
  • Systems analysis
  • Power mapping
  • Active listening
  • Professional interpersonal skills
  • Cross-cultural competence
  • Ability to recognize and address bias and racism in legal systems
  • Fieldwork skills
    • Ethnographic observation
    • Ethnographic note taking
    • Trauma-informed social research
    • On-the-ground collaboration with partners
  • Writing skills
    • Legal / advocacy writing    
    • Opinion writing
    • Solution-oriented writing
    • Analytical writing
    • Educational writing

Clinical Credit Structure and Time Commitment Expected

Altogether, the year-long clinic’s seminar and fieldwork components amount to fourteen credits. This clinic is time intensive. Students should make a time commitment commensurate with the full credit load for the course. They should also be available to travel and conduct immersive fieldwork overseas as needed. To be responsive to clinical needs, travel schedules, and opportunities to engage with TERRA partner organizations and guest speakers, the exact duration and timing of seminar sessions is subject to change. Therefore, students should set aside a three-hour block for each session to allow buffer time for the precise timing of each session, corresponding to the number of seminar credits.

Application Procedure

Please submit the standard application, transcript and resume on-line via CAMS. Selected students may be contacted for an interview by the clinic assistant Withney Barthelemy. If you have any questions, please direct them to César Rodríguez-Garavito or Melina De Bona.

There is a separate application form for LL.M. students. Please use that form and submit it along with a resume and unofficial transcript to CAMS. Please be advised that the deadline for LL.M.s is different than the deadline for JDs, and is posted on the Clinic Application Timelines page. Selected LL.M. students will be contacted for interviews in the summer as part of the selection process.

Student Contacts

Ahmi Dhuna
Joelle Besch
Meseret Carver

* 4 clinical credits and 3 academic seminar credits are awarded in the Fall; 4 clinical credits and 3 academic seminar credits are awarded in the Spring. The total for the year is 14 credits.