UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

LEGAL PERSONHOOD AND THE RIGHTS OF NATURE: Bridging Relationality and State Law to Protect Sri Lankan Rivers from Pollution

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.25949/30349714

Authors

Edirisinghe, Asanka Amitharansy

Reported year

2025

Reported language

en · und

Source type

Dissertation

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.557729+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-10T16:58:51.477198+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Documentary abstract — original language

River pollution is a critical problem in contemporary Sri Lanka, indicating a failure of the law to safeguard our rivers. After more than 400 years of colonial rule, current state-based river protection laws in Sri Lanka still predominantly reflect Western legal concepts that have attracted criticism for anthropocentric bias. By contrast, many local and Indigenous worldviews and legal systems in Sri Lanka embody profound relationships with rivers, making river pollution fundamentally antithetical to their understandings. The emerging global trends of legal personhood and the rights of nature aim to shift from anthropocentric legal principles in environmental protection towards the concept of ‘relationality’, which sees all things as connected. Notably, efforts to recognise legal personhood and the rights of nature in various jurisdictions draw inspiration from customary, religious, and Indigenous perspectives on nature. This thesis investigates the potential to integrate relational values into Sri Lanka’s Western-influenced legal framework for river protection. Through the black-letter approach, socio-legal research, and international and comparative research, the thesis draws on primary research conducted in Sri Lanka and lessons from international law and the comparative jurisdictions of Ecuador, New Zealand, India, and Bangladesh. It proposes a broader recognition of relationality in Sri Lanka’s river protection efforts by adopting legal personhood and the rights of nature, using the ‘River Person’ model. The thesis guides lawmakers by presenting the case for wider recognition of relational worldviews and pluralistic legal concepts in state-based river protection laws in Sri Lanka. It also makes a novel and original contribution to the existing body of knowledge, addressing a topic that has received little attention within the scholarly literature on Sri Lanka.

Identifiers

DOI

10.25949/30349714 · 10.25949/30349714.v1

OPENALEX

W7114912827

OPENAIRE

doi_dedup___::d8e3b2f6be154535643664221516447a

Documentary context

Documentary family

Thesis

Source-reported types

Dissertation · Thesis · dissertation

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

BD · EC · IN · LK · NZ

Natural entities mentioned

River

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

DataCite · Record 1 · Record 2 · Record 3 · Record 4

OpenAIRE · Record 1 · Record 2

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2 · Record 3 · Record 4

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.25949/30349714
• DOI · https://doi.org/10.25949/30349714.v1
• Document · https://dx.doi.org/10.25949/30349714.v1
• Document · https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/LEGAL_PERSONHOOD_AND_THE_RIGHTS_OF_NATURE_Bridging_Relationality_and_State_Law_to_Protect_Sri_Lankan_Rivers_from_Pollution/30349714
• Document · https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/LEGAL_PERSONHOOD_AND_THE_RIGHTS_OF_NATURE_Bridging_Relationality_and_State_Law_to_Protect_Sri_Lankan_Rivers_from_Pollution/30349714
• Document · https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/LEGAL_PERSONHOOD_AND_THE_RIGHTS_OF_NATURE_Bridging_Relationality_and_State_Law_to_Protect_Sri_Lankan_Rivers_from_Pollution/30349714/1
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7114912827

Documentary status

Documentary validated

Library