The future of the Rights of Nature: an interdisciplinary scoping analysis

Lead Research Organisation: University of Roehampton
Department Name: Social Sciences

Abstract

The high rates of environmental degradation and increasing impacts of climate change on society evidence a strong and growing need to find new ways to manage natural resources in a sustainable and resilient manner. Recent reforms have been largely reactive to these intensifying crises. As the frequency and magnitude of environmental crises accelerate, one new and little explored innovative approach to offer a better and more sustainable management of natural resources is emerging under the banner of 'Earth Law'.

The movement to support Earth Law, underpinned by the emergence of a new legal theory, also known as Earth Jurisprudence, is gaining momentum. The idea of Earth Law is to recognise the 'legal personalities' of nature, granting natural resources rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of legal subjects. Since Ecuador included Rights of Nature in its Constitution in 2008, new legislation and court cases recognising the legal rights of nature have emerged in several countries. But the most developed application has been materialised via the recent recognition of the rights of rivers in New Zealand, Australia, Colombia and India. As rivers cannot act legally on their own, this is based on new institutional arrangements recognising a 'guardianship' role for local communities and indigenous peoples.

This new approach to guardianship could offer a more respectful and empowering participatory integration of indigenous peoples' philosophical and cultural approaches to nature. It could also offer a less anthropocentric way to relate to nature, by recognising some of the indigenous philosophies which recognise and value nature as a living being. In theory, this relies on a balance between the interest of nature (the rivers) and the interests of the local populations (socio-culturally and economically).

Although there is some emerging analysis of these legal developments in their own national jurisdictions, there is little interdisciplinary analysis on how this might constitute a new ecological and participatory model for the stewardship of nature. Interdisciplinary research between humanities, social sciences and life sciences is lacking as previous analysis has been largely contextual and field specific. Our scoping study will constitute one of the first international and interdisciplinary analysis on the relationship between rivers rights, indigenous peoples' guardianship and Earth Law. As such, it will contribute to pushing the frontiers of knowledge concerning the way more direct management of natural resources by local communities can contribute to protecting local ecosystems and provide a platform for new embedded forms of local resilience. To do so, we propose to develop a new Legal, Ecological and Participatory (LEAP) model to explore future research in this field. By developing a new interdisciplinary approach to the study of Earth Law, our study will explore whether a new model of 'guardianship' could contribute to a more sustainable management of the environment, while also improving people's livelihoods in ways that are culturally sensible, equitable and sustainable.

Publications

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Description The recognition of the Rights of Nature (RoN) is gaining momentum worldwide and represents a significant paradigm shift, from nature seen as a resource or object of protection to a subject of rights on its own. RoN is increasingly lauded as the legal transformation needed to address the pressing social-environmental crises of our time, including climate change, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss.

Our scoping study highlights that despite its promising role to offer a truly transformative approach to our relationship with our environment, academic research and funding have yet to fully engage with this emerging field of research. Research projects are still anecdotal despite the tasks of exploring the truly transformative nature of this new approach to our environment. In such context it feels that environmental humanities, and the AHRC are ideally placed to support an ambitious and potentially ground-breaking research on the rights of nature. Although new research projects have begun to explore the anthropological and political aspects of RoN focusing on specific case studies outside of Europe, further transdisciplinary research integrating environmental and social sciences is needed to understand how RoN could be operationalised in the European context.
Exploitation Route As our report highlights, the potentially transformative impact of RoN on social and ecological systems warrants urgent interdisciplinary research. AHRC-remit researchers are leading current research on RoN, making the funder ideally placed to facilitate new transformative research to support these transitions to a more ecologically sustainable planet. However, the grand challenges that RoN are being proposed to address require substantive involvement from researchers across the UKRI research council portfolio and with international funders, governments, and organisations.
Sectors Environment

Government

Democracy and Justice

 
Description Our scoping study contributed to the emergence of a network of scholars and activists working on the rights of nature in the UK, and more broadly in Europe.
First Year Of Impact 2021
Sector Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal

 
Description The Interdisciplinary Network on the Study of the Rights of Nature 
Organisation Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The aim of the network is to support interdisciplinary dialogue around the rights of nature. Our aim is to analyse the opportunities and the challenges which the RoN movement affords, and we are particularly interested in issues and questions which require cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Collaborator Contribution We have created connections and applied for several other projects.
Impact Scoping the Rights of Nature: working together across and beyond disciplines - forthcoming in Human Ecology (2023) - disciplines involved: law, philosophy, anthropology, ecology, geography, economics,
Start Year 2021