Riverine Rights: Exploring the Currents and Consequences of Legal Innovations on the Rights of Rivers

In 2016 and 2017, rivers in countries as different as New Zealand, Colombia and India were granted rights as legal persons or subjects. These cases are new and concrete manifestations of broader proposals of giving legal rights to nature, which have been discussed by scientists, legal scholars, environmental activists, indigenous communities and policy-makers for some time. In this project, we investigate the implications of this socio-legal innovation through comparative and in-depth studies of these three country cases. We seek to explore possible tensions and synergies between human rights and nature's rights, and whether the cases of riverine rights are convincing attempts to establish a new mode of human-nature relations. While rivers' rights followed from grassroots activism in all these cases, it is not a given that this legal innovation will serve grassroots interests, nor that it will ensure the protection of rivers. We explore these issues through an interdisciplinary approach, involving experienced researchers with backgrounds from social anthropology, law, environmental governance and economics, with in-depth experience with the case countries. The project aims to produce new, relevant and critical knowledge about an innovative form of environmental protection, with particular attention to a) the mechanisms established for enforcing river rights and their implications for river protection and for the different water user groups; b) implications for existing legal frameworks and debates on the rights of nature, and c) the insights these cases may offer for current debates about how to understand the relationship between society and the natural world.

In 2016 and 2017, rivers have been granted rights as legal subjects or persons in countries as different as New Zealand, Colombia and India. These cases are concrete manifestations of broader proposals of giving legal rights to nature, which have been discussed by scientists, environmental activists, indigenous communities and policy-makers for some time. In this project, we will investigate the implications of this socio-legal innovation through comparative and in-depth studies of these three country cases. We wish to explore possible tensions and synergies between human rights and nature’s rights, and whether the cases of riverine rights are convincing attempts to establish a new mode of human-nature relations. While rivers’ rights followed from grassroots activism in all these cases, it is not a given that this legal innovation will serve grassroots interests, nor that it will ensure the protection of rivers. We will explore these issues through an interdisciplinary approach, involving experienced researchers with backgrounds from social anthropology, law, environmental governance and economics, with in-depth experience with the case countries. The project will produce new, relevant and critical knowledge about an innovative form of environmental protection, with particular attention to a) the mechanisms established for enforcing river rights and their implications for river protection and for the different water user groups; b) implications for existing legal frameworks and debates on the rights of nature, and c) the insights these cases may offer for current debates about how to understand the relationship between society and the natural world.