Does nature have rights?

In 2021 Ecuador’s Constitutional Court set a global precedent when it upheld constitutional rights of nature to protect the Los Cedros cloud forest from mineral extraction. Rights of nature have become a global movement that are being increasingly recognised in countries around the world, challenging us to think differently about how we relate to nature, including forests through the language of rights. Helen Dancer explores the philosophy and beliefs behind rights of nature, global legal developments and possibilities for recognising rights of nature in the UK.

Recommended reading

Barkham, P. 2021. Should rivers have the same rights as people? The Guardian 25 July.

Burdon, Peter D. 2020. Obligations in the Anthropocene. Law and Critique 31 (3): 309–28.

Dancer, Helen. 2021. Harmony with Nature: Towards a New Deep Legal Pluralism. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 53 (1): 21–41.

Howe, Helena R. 2017. Making Wild Law Work—The Role of “Connection with Nature” and Education in Developing an Ecocentric Property Law. Journal of Environmental Law 29 (1): 19–45.

Kaminski, Isabella. 2023. River Ouse may become first in England to gain legal rights. The Guardian 1 March.

Kauffman, Craig M., and Pamela Martin. 2021. The Politics of Rights of Nature: Strategies for Building a More Sustainable Future. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

Stone, Christopher D. 2010. Should Trees Have Standing? Law, Morality, and the Environment. 3rd ed. New York, N.Y: Oxford University Press. 

Eco Jurisprudence Monitor

Acknowledgments

This podcast episode was written and presented by Helen Dancer, produced by Will Hood of The Academic Podcast Agency, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the University of Sussex, with sound archive from New Forest Sounds.

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