Eminent lawyer Polly Higgins has died at the age of just 50.
She has been described as ‘one of the most inspiring figures in the green movement’. She presented a proposal to the United Nations Law Commission for ecocide to be
According to an interview she gave to the Scotsman newspaper, her parents were at first shocked that their daughter had entered the legal profession. However, she explained “the Earth is in need of a good lawyer!”When Ms Higgins was told last month that she had an aggressive form of cancer and had only weeks to live, she said the work she pioneered would go on after her death.
“My legal team will continue undeterred,” she said.
“But there are millions who care so much and feel so powerless about the future, and I would love to see them begin to understand the power of this one, simple law to protect the Earth – to realise it’s possible, even straightforward. I wish I could live to see a million Earth protectors standing for it – because I believe they will.”On Ms Higgins’ Facebook page today, her colleague and ‘fellow warrior’ Jojo Mehta, wrote: “Polly’s gone. At 5.05pm, peacefully, with her husband beside her and two of her closest friends.
“And on Easter/Ēostre … the festival of new life, in more than one tradition.
“It’s up to all of us now. #PollysLaw
“So much love. Tune in to her. She’ll be there. She’ll be everywhere.”
Author and activist Naomi Klein tweeted: “She devoted her life to changing broken laws that have failed so miserably to protect the natural systems on which we all depend. Her work will live on.”
Kate Raworth, a teacher at the Environmental Change Institute of Oxford University, said she was devastated by the loss of such a brilliant and pioneering legal campaigner.
“May bright young lawyers worldwide be inspired to continue her essential work,” she tweeted.