UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Do Rights of Nature Lead to Healthier Ecosystems? Governance, Planetary Health, and the Boundaries of Legal Reform

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.3390/challe17040036

Authors

Pim Martens · Valesca S.M. Venhof · M. van der Meer · Renée Robbers

Reported year

2026

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.918225+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-10T16:58:51.465763+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Maastricht University

Reported affiliation countries

NL

Documentary abstract — original language

A growing number of jurisdictions have granted rights to nature. Scholarship on these frameworks has been mainly legal and philosophical and has rarely asked whether legal recognition improves the condition of ecosystems. This paper takes up that question from a planetary health perspective, which treats ecosystem health as nested within the health of the Earth system as a whole. It is a reflexive discussion piece rather than a systematic review, because the available literature is too limited and heterogeneous to support formal synthesis. Cases from Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, New Zealand, Spain, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands are examined. The studies reviewed report mainly intermediate outcomes: court rulings, restoration obligations, coordination between agencies, and composite performance indices. Direct indicators of ecosystem structure, functioning, and resilience are largely absent. Five recurring mechanisms are identified: legal empowerment, a shift in how the living world is valued, guardianship institutions, integration across governance sectors, and precautionary decision-making. The evidence supports conclusions about institutional change; it does not yet support conclusions about ecological recovery.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W7214295221

DOI

10.3390/challe17040036

OPENAIRE

doi_________::3201a3d04a3f4650f43910ad0f2e5556

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article · article

Natural entities mentioned

Ecosystem

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

Sources

OpenAIRE · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.3390/challe17040036
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7214295221

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w2174670974 · CITES
• openalex:w2175751433 · CITES
• openalex:w2557677077 · CITES
• openalex:w2760438981 · CITES
• A rights revolution for nature · CITES
• The Politics of Rights of Nature: Strategies for Building a More Sustainable Future · CITES
• Rights of Nature in Practice: A Case Study on the Impacts of the Colombian Atrato River Decision · CITES
• Tipping Point Towards Biodiversity Conservation? Local and Global Consequences of the Application of ‘Rights of Nature’ by Ecuador · CITES
• openalex:w4318829877 · CITES
• Relational values of nature: Outgrowing anthropocentrism by enriching human-nature relationships? · CITES
• openalex:w4386706488 · CITES
• openalex:w4389137389 · CITES
• Beyond legal personhood for the Whanganui River: collaboration and pluralism in implementing the Te Awa Tupua Act · CITES
• Ecological restoration in rights‐of‐nature laws and restoration as a substantive right of nature: challenges and opportunities · CITES
• Mogelijkheden om rechten van de natuur vorm te geven in de gemeente Eijsden-Margraten · CITES
• openalex:w7162216345 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.