Can a forest write a song? Ecuador copyright claim puts ‘rights of nature’ to the test

Two years ago, Robert Macfarlane and his friends were sitting around a campfire in an Ecuadorian rainforest, listening to the cacophony of sounds generated by an ecosystem teeming with life. 

“Suddenly, I pulled a little notebook out from my pocket and began to jot lyrics,” the British writer told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “And out of that seed, a song grew.”

That composition, called Song of the Cedars, incorporates audio recordings from the Los Cedros cloud forest, a protected reserve and one of the most biodiverse habitats on the planet. 

It was written by Macfarlane, musician Cosmo Sheldrake, field mycologist Giuliana Furci, legal scholar César Rodríguez-Garavito and — they argue — the forest itself. 

They have petitioned Ecuador’s copyright authorities to recognize Los Cedros as an official co-author of the song, which includes hummingbirds, howler monkeys, birds, cicadas, frogs, rivers, leaves and more.

It’s a move they and other experts say could help move the needle forward in the growing movement to secure legal rights for plants, animals, and the very concept of nature.

Ecuador’s Intellectual Property Rights Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This forest already has constitutional rights 

The idea of a forest holding copyright is not as far-fetched as it may seem, says Rodríguez-Garavito.

In 2021, Ecuador’s highest court halted plans to mine copper and gold in Los Cedros, arguing the mining permits violated the forest’s constitutional rights.

The landmark ruling upheld the “rights of nature,” which are enshrined in the country’s constitution, in a move that some legal scholars say amounts to granting the forest legal personhood.

This petition, Rodríguez-Garavito says, is a way of pushing that ruling forward. 

“Let’s explore the other potential rights that could be acknowledged to the forest. And one is the creative rights over a song,” he said. 

Rodríguez-Garavito is founding director of the More Than Human Life Project (MOTH), which is spearheading the petition. It’s an initiative of the New York University School of Law’s Earth Rights Research and Action program, which aims to reimagine the law in ways that are less human-centric.

MOTH is asking Ecuador’s copyright authorities to grant the forest “moral authorship” of the song, referring to a facet of copyright law concerned with attribution, not economic benefits. 

If they’re successful, he says, the forest would officially be considered a co-author of the song, but would not be granted royalties. 

Macfarlane says it was important to pursue moral authorship because it’s “inalienable,” whereas royalty rights can be bought and sold. 

If they’re not successful, Rodríguez-Garavito says they’re ready to appeal the decision in court. But he’s optimistic, noting the copyright office agreed to consider the proposal, when it could have rejected it out of hand.

Whatever happens, Macfarlane says they intend to funnel any streaming revenues from the song into a trust for Los Cedros conservation efforts.

‘For us, it’s a philosophical principle that we want to establish,” Macfarlane said, “which is that of the immense, intense, endless creative force of the forest.”

Reimagining the law

Grant Wilson, an expert on the rights of nature who is not involved in this case, says the group’s petition “has the potential to transform the law in diverse ways.”

“If successful, this case could help inspire lawyers and professionals across diverse legal fields to expand their traditional practices to include nature’s voice,” Wilson, executive director of the U.S.-based Earth Law Center, told CBC in an email. 

“The possibilities are immense. Over time, the entire legal system could be reimagined to represent all life on Earth — not just humans. Humans are just one part of a vast, interconnected web of life. Shouldn’t our legal system reflect this reality, too?”

The rights of nature movement, he says, is playing out on several fronts all over the world. Perhaps the most famous example, he says, is Naruto, the macaque monkey whose 2011 selfies went viral. 

Those images prompted a lengthy and highly publicized copyright feud between wildlife photographer David J. Slater, who argued the images were his, and animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which argued they belong to Naruto. 

PETA lost that case, but other efforts to secure rights for non-humans have been successful, Wilson said. 

The Whanganui River in New Zealand, for example, was granted legal personhood in 2017 through a treaty settlement with several Māori tribes.

And in 2024, a UN-affiliated organization called Sounds Rights gave “Nature” its own artist page on Spotify, using profits to support conservation projects.

Debut at COP16

While copyright law is complex, Mcfarlane says he sees this case as “a very simple thing.”

Song of the Cedars was written during an expedition to Los Cedros to collect and name new species of fungi. Macfarlane, known for his writings about nature, was there to research his upcoming book, Is a River Alive?

Without Los Cedros, he says, the song couldn’t exist. 

“The forest absolutely brought it to life,” he said. 

Sheldrake performed the song live on Tuesday at COP16, the United Nations biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia. Macfarlane says it’s a fitting debut.

“It seems to us, you know, really, really important and symbolic as the world gathers at COP recognize that the diversity of life and its flourishing is vital for for us and so many species beyond us,” he said.