The UN treaty aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" - to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened.

Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth provides the basis for draft language of this new UN treaty. Bolivia's law establishes a Ministry of Mother Earth, and provides the planet with an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature's complaints as voiced by activist and other groups, including the state.

Bolivia's ambassador to the UN Pablo Salon stated, ""If you want to have balance, and you think that the only (entities) who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance? "But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and (if you provide) legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance."

Council of Canadians leader Maude Barlow is among global environmentalists backing the drive for the UN treaty, with a book she will launch in New York during the UN debate: Nature Has Rights.

"It's going to have huge resonance around the world," Barlow said of the campaign. "It's going to start first with these southern countries trying to protect their land and their people from exploitation, but I think it will be grabbed onto by communities in our countries, for example, fighting the tarsands in Alberta."

Other South American countries support the Bolivia initiative. Debate at the UN begins April 20, 2011.

The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, held in Bolivia, April 2010, proposed a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.