UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Legal Personhood of Rivers in Bangladesh: Promise, Pitfalls, and the Way Forward

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.5281/zenodo.17386530

Authors

Ahona Singha

Reported year

2025

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.530450+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:04:47.530450+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of Rajshahi

Reported affiliation countries

BD

Documentary abstract — original language

The study examines the environmental and governance implications of granting ‘Legal Personhood’ to all rivers in Bangladesh, following the 2019 Turag River case. It is conducted using a twofold approach, integrating doctrinal legal analysis with empirical inquiry based on the Narrative Thematic Analytical Approach (NTAA). The doctrinal part examines the constitutional and statutory frameworks through the lens of the High Court’s directions to determine any gaps between judicial innovation and legislative power. The empirical layer is based on 41 in-depth interviews, with thematic saturation achieved at 36, the remaining 5 interviews confirmed the themes without adding new insights. Interviews are conducted with farmers, fishers, local authorities, and NGO representatives (April-June 2024), in the Baral, Karatoya, and Narod rivers, chosen as ecologically pressured critical cases. Field accounts indicate that pollution, encroachment, and drying have been ongoing issues over time, and that community consciousness has primarily focused on livelihoods and cultural continuity, rather than legal rights. Findings suggest that weaknesses in the institutions, the advisory mandate of the NRCC, and the lack of statutory enforcement powers restrict the practical ramifications of personhood. The study concludes that, without statutory codification, empowered guardianship, and ecological monitoring benchmarks, the concept of river personhood remains symbolic. Implementing rights-standard features into the legislation, decentralizing enforcement, and incorporating local co-guardianship are necessary steps to achieve meaningful ecological outcomes.

Identifiers

DOI

10.5281/zenodo.17386530 · 10.5281/zenodo.17386531 · 10.5281/zenodo.17416929

OPENALEX

W7092365020

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

BD

Natural entities mentioned

River

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

Sources

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

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17386530
• DOI · https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17386531
• DOI · https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17416929
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7092365020

Documented bibliographic relations

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

1 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Documentary validated

Library