A Meeting of Rivers: Exploring the Rights of Nature in the UK

在全球范围内，一场法律和环境革命正在发生。在厄瓜多尔、新西兰、哥伦比亚、乌干达、西班牙和加拿大等地，社区和土著群体正在通过授予他们权利来保护他们的当地生态系统免受人类的剥削。“自然权利”(RON)运动标志着一种根本性的转变，即从将自然视为人类使用的资源的观点，转向将自然视为我们道德和法律共同体的一部分的模式。因此，罗恩运动被认为是解决我们目前面临的环境危机所需的范式转变。这一运动正在稳步发展，至少有27个国家通过了RON立法，还有许多其他国家正在制定RON立法。尽管承认这些权利的方法在每种情况下都不同，但RON立法通常有两个特点：承认我们对自然负有责任，而不仅仅是人类对它的利用；以及承认土著和当地社区在法律背景下最有资格代表自然的利益。认识到这一点，RON立法经常涉及创建新的代表角色，赋予以前被剥夺公民权的社区通过代表其权利和利益来管理其当地环境的能力。因此，RON将环境和社会的可持续发展联系在一起，体现了当地社区的健康和赋权与生态系统的健康和赋权密切相关的理念。RON运动在英国正在缓慢发展。在过去的三年里，英国各地的社区宪章、地方议会的动议和社区宣言都承认自然的权利，一些人试图通过罗恩的政策。但这些羽翼未丰的罗恩计划至少面临两个严重的障碍。首先，这些组织在很大程度上彼此孤立，与全球RON运动隔绝。其次，目前几乎没有关于在英国承认罗恩的可能性和似是而非的学术研究，这些组织可能会借鉴这一点。该项目将解决这两个问题。该项目旨在将英国现有的RON倡议整合在一起，形成一个新的网络，以促进沟通、信息交换，并在未来可能就RON行动进行合作。通过一系列研讨会，该网络将探索理解自然权利的方法；RON可以或应该如何代表；英国可能启用或阻止RON的法律框架；以及当地社区如何收集生态数据来支持他们的自然倡导。一个跨学科的学术团队将指导这些研讨会，并与从业者网络一起，对RON在英国的可能性和合理性进行明确的探索。由一名哲学家、一名法律理论家和一名生态学家组成的这个跨学科团队将就可能支撑未来RON立法的概念基础、法律途径和生态测量产生一份明确的报告。因此，该项目将为英国和其他地方对RON感兴趣的当地社区、政策制定者和法律从业者带来持久的好处。

Across the globe, a legal and environmental revolution is occurring. In places such as Ecuador, New Zealand, Columbia, Uganda, Spain, and Canada, communities and indigenous groups are protecting their local ecosystems from human exploitation by granting them rights. The "Rights of Nature" (RoN) movement marks a radical shift away from a view in which nature is seen as a resource for human use, and to a model in which nature is recognised as part of our moral and legal community. As such, the RoN movement has been presented as exactly the paradigm shift needed to address the environmental crises we currently face. This movement is steadily growing, with at least 27 countries passing RoN legislation, and many others currently developing it.Though the method of recognising these rights is different in each context, RoN legislation generally has two features: a recognition that we have responsibilities to nature which goes beyond human use of it, and a recognition that indigenous and local communities are best placed to represent the interests of nature in a legal context. Recognising this, RoN legislation often involves the creation of new representative roles which give previously disenfranchised communities the ability to manage their local environment through representing its rights and interests. As such, RoN connects environmental and social sustainability, and embodies the idea the health and empowerment of local communities is intimately connected with the health and empowerment of ecosystems.The RoN movement in the UK is slowly growing. In the last three years, community charters, motions in local councils, and community declarations across the UK have recognised nature's rights, with some attempting to pass RoN policy. But these fledgling RoN initiatives face at least two serious obstacles. Firstly, these groups are for the most part isolated from each other and from the global RoN movement. Secondly, there currently exists little academic research into the possibility and plausibility of recognising RoN in the UK which these groups might draw on. This project will address both issues.This project aims to bring existing RoN initiatives in the UK together to form a new network, to facilitate communication, the exchange of information, and possible collaboration on RoN action in the future. Through a series of workshops, this network will explore ways of understanding nature's rights; how RoN can or should be represented; the legal frameworks in the UK which might enable or prevent RoN; and how local communities can collect ecological data to support their nature advocacy. An interdisciplinary team of academics will guide these workshops and, in conjunction with the network of practitioners, undertake a definitive exploration into the possibility and plausibility of RoN in the UK context. Comprised of a philosopher, a legal theorist, and an ecologist, this interdisciplinary team will produce a definitive report into the conceptual grounding, legal pathways, and ecological measurement which could underpin any future RoN legislation. As such, the project will be of lasting benefit to local communities, policymakers, and legal practitioners interested in RoN within the UK and elsewhere.