The International Rights of Nature Tribunal has formally submitted its findings on the Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) mining project in Serbia’s Homolje region to the Bureau of the Bern Convention, urging precautionary and reparatory action to protect the area’s ecosystems and intrinsic values.

In a letter addressed to the Convention’s Bureau, the Tribunal shared the conclusions of its 6th International Rights of Nature Tribunal judgment, released in March 2026, on fossil fuels and Canadian mining companies, which found that the Serbian government and Dundee Precious Metals are responsible for directly and indirectly violating the Rights of Nature in the Homolje region.

The submission relates to the Bern Convention complaint “Possible negative impact of mining activities in the Homolje Mt region” (Complaint 2022/6), which has been under review by the Convention in recent years.

The Tribunal concluded that mining exploration and planned extraction activities threaten the rights of Homolje’s rivers, forests, and ecosystems, including:

• the right to exist and thrive;
• the right to regenerate natural cycles and ecological integrity;
• the right to water and health;
• and the right to remain free from contamination, pollution, and toxic waste.

Drawing from the principles of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, the Tribunal emphasized that violations of the Rights of Nature are inseparable from violations of the intrinsic ecological values recognized in the Bern Convention.

“The protection of Homolje is not only a matter of biodiversity conservation,” said Tribunal Judges Assembly chair Francesco Martone. “It is also about recognizing ecosystems as living entities with inherent rights that must be defended against destructive extractive activities.”

The Tribunal also called on Serbian authorities to:

• immediately halt all exploration activities carried out by Dundee Precious Metals in the Homolje region;
• cancel existing mining exploration and exploitation concessions;
• conduct an independent and participatory environmental audit of damages caused by exploration activities;
• implement full ecological restoration and remediation measures under the polluter-pays principle;
• ensure permanent protection of Homolje through National Park designation under the strictest protection category;
• and cease mining activities more broadly in Serbia in line with the precautionary principle and the documented impacts of gold extraction worldwide.

The Tribunal also proposed that the Mlava River be designated as part of the Emerald Network under the Bern Convention framework.

The case has been supported by organizations, including Earth Thrive, which has played a leading role in bringing international attention to the ecological and cultural significance of the Homolje region.

The Tribunal’s findings build upon hearings held in November 2024 and during the international hearing on Canadian mining in Toronto, Canada, where testimonies and evidence documented the impacts of extractive projects on ecosystems and communities.

Documents

• Final Judgment of the 6th International Rights of Nature Tribunal on Fossil Fuels and Canadian Mining Companies;
• Tribunal Statement on Dundee Precious Metals;
• Final Recommendations of the 6th International Rights of Nature Tribunal;
• Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.

Background

The submission to the Bern Convention forms part of a broader multi-year process led by the International Rights of Nature Tribunal examining the global impacts of extractive industries and advancing legal recognition of the Rights of Nature.

The Tribunal’s work on mining impacts began with hearings on threats to the Amazon and Indigenous territories during its 2021 session in Glasgow, followed by a fact-finding delegation to Brazil’s Xingu and Carajás regions in 2022, where Tribunal representatives documented deforestation, contamination, land grabbing, and violations linked to large-scale mining projects.

The Homolje case in Serbia was first examined during the 14th Local Rights of Nature Tribunal in 2024, where grassroots organizations like Earth Thrive, environmental defenders, and affected communities documented the extensive damage caused by foreign mining investments in the region. The findings and recommendations from that Tribunal later informed the complaint submitted to the Bern Convention. Watch the Tribunal here.

Francesco Martone described Serbia as “the new extractive frontier,” warning that “the Serbian government is turning the country into a mining colony, easing environmental restrictions and repressing civil resistance.” The Tribunal found that the expansion of extractive activities by Dundee Precious Metals threatens 143 species, including several already endangered, and poses an existential risk to the ecosystems of the Homolje region.

Testimonies presented before the Tribunal detailed the impacts of mining exploration on local ecosystems and communities. Rade Mošić, from the village of Laznica, recounted how his family’s water source, used for generations, became undrinkable after DPM’s drilling activities contaminated local waters with toxic substances including arsenic, aluminum, copper, and cadmium. Witnesses also documented forest destruction, wildlife displacement, surveillance, and intimidation targeting environmental defenders and local activists resisting the project.

The Homolje case and its findings were later incorporated into the Tribunal’s international hearings on the end of fossil fuels in New York during Climate Week 2024, on Canadian mining hosted in Toronto in February 2025, and finally into its concluding session in Belém, Brazil, held under the title A New Pledge for Mother Nature on the eve of COP30.

Across these sessions, the Tribunal examined the environmental and social impacts of fossil fuel extraction and large-scale mining worldwide, with particular attention to the role of Canadian extractive companies. Nearly half of the world’s publicly listed mining companies are registered on Canadian stock exchanges, making Canada a central actor in global mining expansion.

In Belém, Tribunal judges issued and signed a New Pledge for Mother Nature, calling for:

• recognition of the Rights of Nature and the Amazon as a subject of rights;
• an indefinite moratorium on fossil fuel expansion in the Amazon;
• protections for Earth defenders;
• reparations for ecological destruction;
• and systemic transformations addressing the root causes of environmental collapse.

The declaration positioned the Rights of Nature as a necessary framework for ecological justice, peace, and the protection of all living beings ahead of COP30.

Download the full Press Release.