Funded Projects
A Meeting of Rivers: Exploring the Rights of Nature in the UK
AHRC Curiosity Grant
Date: 2024-2028. Principal Investigator.
The Rights of Nature (RoN) movement is a novel approach to environmental legislation which aims to protect vulnerable ecosystems from exploitation by granting them legal rights. The most prominent examples of RoN legislation can be found in South America (e.g., 2008, 2012) New Zealand (2014, 2017), and India (2017), but recently the RoN movement is gaining momentum in Europe (2022). RoN legislation marks a radical departure from more anthropocentric approaches, as it recognizes that we owe duties to nature, regardless of human interests. As ecosystems cannot advocate for their own rights, indigenous groups and local communities are typically appointed to act as representatives for these entities.
Within the UK, the RoN movement is inchoate but growing. Several civil society initiatives over the past three years – including community charters, motions in local councils, and community declarations – have recognised the rights of nature. However, these initiatives face at least two serious obstacles. Firstly, the practices of these different initiatives are for the most part isolated from each other and from the global RoN movement. Secondly, there is currently no academic research into the conceptual foundations, legal plausibility, and ecological potential of the RoN movement in the UK. This project aims to resolve both problems.
This project has three main objectives:
AHRC Curiosity Grant
Date: 2024-2028. Principal Investigator.
The Rights of Nature (RoN) movement is a novel approach to environmental legislation which aims to protect vulnerable ecosystems from exploitation by granting them legal rights. The most prominent examples of RoN legislation can be found in South America (e.g., 2008, 2012) New Zealand (2014, 2017), and India (2017), but recently the RoN movement is gaining momentum in Europe (2022). RoN legislation marks a radical departure from more anthropocentric approaches, as it recognizes that we owe duties to nature, regardless of human interests. As ecosystems cannot advocate for their own rights, indigenous groups and local communities are typically appointed to act as representatives for these entities.
Within the UK, the RoN movement is inchoate but growing. Several civil society initiatives over the past three years – including community charters, motions in local councils, and community declarations – have recognised the rights of nature. However, these initiatives face at least two serious obstacles. Firstly, the practices of these different initiatives are for the most part isolated from each other and from the global RoN movement. Secondly, there is currently no academic research into the conceptual foundations, legal plausibility, and ecological potential of the RoN movement in the UK. This project aims to resolve both problems.
This project has three main objectives:
- To perform a definitive interdisciplinary investigation into the possibility and plausibility of awarding natural entities rights in the UK context.
- To facilitate the development of a UK-wide network of local communities currently developing RoN initiatives.
- To work with local initiatives involved in this network (Objective 2), to co-produce and implement research into the RoN in UK (Objective 1).
Connecting with Nature: Ideas from Environmental Philosophy
Royal Institute of Philosophy Public Engagement Grant
Date: 2024-2025. Principal Investigator.
We live in a world of environmental crisis – climate breakdown, extreme pollution, and bio-diversity loss. It is often recognised that before we change our environmental behaviours, we must first change our ways of thinking about nature. But this is easier said than done. What real possibilities exist for this dramatic shift in our conceptualisation of nature?
It is the role of philosophy to explore, create, and justify such new ways of thinking. This event brings leading academics working on a range of innovative environmental ideas, together with environmental activists, community leaders, policymakers, and interested members of the public. The project will run three events across the UK. Each event will begin with a brief introduction from the academic participants, and a semi-structured conversation around the topic. The organizers will then lead a nature walk whilst the conversation continues informally. A summary discussion will finish the walk. Following the walk, a film related to the topic will be screened in a local cinema, introduced by one or more of the academics, with a Q&A to follow the screening.
Outputs:
- Three public-engagement events
- Edited Collection entitled Connecting with Nature
Royal Institute of Philosophy Public Engagement Grant
Date: 2024-2025. Principal Investigator.
We live in a world of environmental crisis – climate breakdown, extreme pollution, and bio-diversity loss. It is often recognised that before we change our environmental behaviours, we must first change our ways of thinking about nature. But this is easier said than done. What real possibilities exist for this dramatic shift in our conceptualisation of nature?
It is the role of philosophy to explore, create, and justify such new ways of thinking. This event brings leading academics working on a range of innovative environmental ideas, together with environmental activists, community leaders, policymakers, and interested members of the public. The project will run three events across the UK. Each event will begin with a brief introduction from the academic participants, and a semi-structured conversation around the topic. The organizers will then lead a nature walk whilst the conversation continues informally. A summary discussion will finish the walk. Following the walk, a film related to the topic will be screened in a local cinema, introduced by one or more of the academics, with a Q&A to follow the screening.
Outputs:
- Three public-engagement events
- Edited Collection entitled Connecting with Nature
Representing the Rights of Nature - Learning from the Maori
BA Small Grant Award
Date: 2022-23. Principal Investigator.
To combat the vast environmental problems which we face, we need to develop new strategies for protecting the non-human environment. One promising strategy has been to grant ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and mountains, legal personhood. These entities then possess the legal rights to protect their interests from human exploitation. This strategy has been most successful in New Zealand, where since 2017 several ecosystems have been granted legal personhood. Indigenous Mãori groups are typically the driving force behind these changes, Mãori worldviews are reflected in the legal policies, and Mãori tribes stand as guardians of nature’s rights. This ground-breaking model of environmental protection combines Western legal frameworks with indigenous worldviews to decolonise dominant approaches to environmental governance. This project will undertake an interdisciplinary analysis of this model, to discover what drivers might be applicable to a European context, and what attitudes and institutions could support legitimate guardianship of nature’s rights.
BA Small Grant Award
Date: 2022-23. Principal Investigator.
To combat the vast environmental problems which we face, we need to develop new strategies for protecting the non-human environment. One promising strategy has been to grant ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and mountains, legal personhood. These entities then possess the legal rights to protect their interests from human exploitation. This strategy has been most successful in New Zealand, where since 2017 several ecosystems have been granted legal personhood. Indigenous Mãori groups are typically the driving force behind these changes, Mãori worldviews are reflected in the legal policies, and Mãori tribes stand as guardians of nature’s rights. This ground-breaking model of environmental protection combines Western legal frameworks with indigenous worldviews to decolonise dominant approaches to environmental governance. This project will undertake an interdisciplinary analysis of this model, to discover what drivers might be applicable to a European context, and what attitudes and institutions could support legitimate guardianship of nature’s rights.
The Future of the Rights of Nature - An Interdisciplinary Scoping Analysis
UKRI/AHRC Scoping Award. More details here.
Date: 2020-22. Co-Investigator. With the INSRoN research network.
An interdisciplinary exploration into the legal, philosophical, and scientific basis for awarding rights to non-human natural entities (such as rivers and mountains). The project involved lawyers, economists, ecologists, anthropologists and philosophers, and compared resources from each of these disciplines to discover possible areas of collaboration and divergence in the area of nature's rights.
Outputs:
- Scoping survey for the AHRC
- Co-authored Research Paper
- This animated short video
UKRI/AHRC Scoping Award. More details here.
Date: 2020-22. Co-Investigator. With the INSRoN research network.
An interdisciplinary exploration into the legal, philosophical, and scientific basis for awarding rights to non-human natural entities (such as rivers and mountains). The project involved lawyers, economists, ecologists, anthropologists and philosophers, and compared resources from each of these disciplines to discover possible areas of collaboration and divergence in the area of nature's rights.
Outputs:
- Scoping survey for the AHRC
- Co-authored Research Paper
- This animated short video
Networks and Collaborations
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Interdisciplinary Network on the Study of the Rights of Nature
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River Rights Network
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