UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Reprising environmental personhood – representation and the construction of knowledge

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1108/jppel-02-2025-0012

Authors

Francine Rochford

Reported year

2026

Reported language

en

Source type

journal-article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.912217+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-10T01:26:20.309158+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

La Trobe University · La Trobe University School of Law, , Melbourne,

Reported affiliation countries

AU

Documentary abstract — original language

Purpose The purpose of this analysis is to assess the concept of environmental personhood as a mechanism for the provision of rights for rivers. This paper aims to conceptualise personhood as one of the techniques of acknowledging and protecting river rights, noting the relationship between environmental personhood in the Australian context and some Indigenous ontologies. Design/methodology/approach Using a conventional legal case study methodology, the analysis considers the claims by environmental groups involved in proceedings that certain environmental features have significance to Indigenous groups as sacred and that they should be preserved from resource development, alongside the modern legitimising arguments supporting post-Enlightenment legal systems. Findings The case studies demonstrate the vulnerability of the complex translation of Indigenous spirituality to bureaucratic processes required by planning and environmental law and in litigation. Research limitations/implications These case studies are based on Australian law and focus on two events thirty years apart. The jurisdictional constructs of law, however, are one of the issues with the concept of environmental personhood. Practical implications These case studies are practical applications of a theoretical construct and so demonstrate a practical matter. However, they are highly place-based, both in terms of the environmental and Indigenous claims and in terms of the legal rules. Social implications These case studies demonstrate a set of serious ethical considerations in the translation and construction of environmental and Indigenous claims. Originality/value The analysis is an original contribution to the scholarship because it demonstrates the dangers of these multiple translation tasks in the processes of representation of both environmental and Indigenous interests.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W7127163146

DOI

10.1108/jppel-02-2025-0012

OPENAIRE

doi_________::4bbd3c5c049def67a71a10916015834b

ISSN

2514-9407 · 2514-9415

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article · article · journal-article

Publishers

Emerald

Natural entities mentioned

River

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

Sources

Crossref · Record 1

OpenAIRE · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1108/jppel-02-2025-0012
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7127163146

Documented bibliographic relations

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

• doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1997.tb02639.x · CITES
• doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.2011.tb00101.x · CITES
• doi:10.1002/j.1839-4655.1989.tb00866.x · CITES
• doi:10.1007/s12685-016-0168-8 · CITES
• doi:10.1017/s0731126500009070 · CITES
• Stop Burying the Lede: The Essential Role of Indigenous Law(s) in Creating Rights of Nature · CITES
• doi:10.1080/00664677.2014.939576 · CITES
• Conferring legal personality on the world’s rivers: A brief intellectual assessment · CITES
• Why the Ganga should not claim a right of the river · CITES
• Relational personhood: a conception of legal personhood with insights from disability rights and environmental law · CITES
• doi:10.1111/1467-8322.00214 · CITES
• doi:10.1111/raju.12267 · CITES
• doi:10.1177/1037969x1003500404 · CITES
• doi:10.1353/jod.2004.0076 · CITES
• doi:10.1525/ae.1982.9.1.02a00090 · CITES
• doi:10.2307/1189947 · CITES
• doi:10.2307/2783506 · CITES
• doi:10.2307/3032837 · CITES
• doi:10.2307/3313677 · CITES
• doi:10.2307/3313929 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.