UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

The pluralism of river rights in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Colombia

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.31235/osf.io/rdh4x

Authors

Elizabeth Macpherson · Felipe Clavijo Ospina

Reported year

2020

Reported language

en

Source type

preprint

First detected

2026-11-09T19:08:56.019053+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:08:56.019053+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile · The University of Melbourne · Tribunal Constitucional · Universidad Externado de Colombia · Universidad Nacional de Colombia · University of Canterbury

Documentary abstract — original language

In this article we interrogate the recognition of rivers as legal persons in Aotearoa New Zealand (Whanganui River) and Colombia (Ri'o Atrato). Although the legal, political, historical and cultural context for recognition is different in each country, an analysis of the cases presents some interesting conceptual correlations, which help us to understand this emerging (and sometimes controversial) transnational idea that a river can be a person. In both cases recognising that the river is a person is an attempt to accommodate diverse legal and cultural interests in the river, in order to establish a new collaborative relationship between the state and river communities. Whether either model results in improved river outcomes, or increased indigenous or community jurisdiction to govern, turns not on the fiction that the river is a person but on the surrounding institutional framework, which has been carefully designed to engender enforceability. Thus, we argue, traditional dichotomies that draw lines between human-centred and earth-centred laws, or nature as the object versus the subject of property or rights fail to capture what legal personality entails. Ahora es el momento de comenzar a to mar las primeras medidas para proteger de forma eficaz al planeta y a sus recursos antes de que sea demasiado tarde o el dano sea irreversible, no solo para las futuras generaciones sino para la especie humana.2 Now is the moment to begin to take the first steps effectively to protect the planet and its resources before it is too late or the damage is irreversible, not just for future generations but for the human species. This is the author-produced PDF of an article, accepted for publication in [Journal of Water Law], following peer review. The Version of Record [Macpherson, E. & Ospina, F.C. 2015, "The pluralism of river rights in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Colombia", Journal of Water Law, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 283-293] is available in [Journal of Water Law, vol 25, issue 6 at 283-293]. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W3172290392

DOI

10.31235/osf.io/rdh4x

Documentary context

Documentary family

Working paper

Source-reported types

preprint

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

CO · NZ

Natural entities mentioned

River · Sea · Species

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

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/rdh4x
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W3172290392

Documented bibliographic relations

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

• Can Rights of Nature Make Development More Sustainable? Why Some Ecuadorian lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail · CITES

28 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.