UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

RIGHTS OF NATURE: THEORY AND PRACTICE

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.55908/sdgs.v13i6.4434

Authors

Chris · Ninane Nina

Reported year

2025

Reported language

en · und

Source type

Article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.866647+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-10T16:58:51.091250+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of Ibadan · University of Lagos

Reported affiliation countries

NG

Documentary abstract — original language

Objectives: Rights of Nature (RoN), the idea that natural entities, such as forests, rivers and mountains, should be endowed with rights like humans, emerged in 1972 in the United States of America (USA) through a work by Christopher Stone, a Professor of Law. This article analyses the theoretical and philosophical foundations of RoN, the pattern of its adoption, and the success and failure in its practice. Method/Data Sources: The documents on RoN of the countries that have adopted RoN are the main sources of information/data. Other sources include publications by researchers on RoN, reports by environmental organisations such as Global Alliance for RoN, Eco Jurisdiction Monitor, and Earth Law Center, and recent print/electronic media reports on RoN. Theoretical Framework: In order to provide a contextual framework, the concept of nature is discussed. The philosophical basis of RoN is the indigenous people’s perspective of the sacredness of natural entities and their practice of living in harmony with nature. The concepts of legal personality and legal rights provide the theoretical background for RoN. The emergence of RoN is consequent on the increasing acceptance of ecocentrism, a philosophy of the intrinsic value of nature as a more effective environmental management approach compared to the dominant anthropocentrism which is centred around the dominance of humans over nature. Results and Discussion: Four patterns in the endowment of RoN are identifiable and analysed. These are whole country, parts of a country, whole natural entities, and parts of natural entities application. It is only in Ecuador, Bolivia, Uganda and Panama that RoN applies to all parts of the country. United States is a typical example of where RoN applies to only areal units within a country. There are many more cases of where RoN applies to units of a physical entity than to the entire entity such as rivers. Constitutional review, laws and court decisions have been the channels of introducing RoN. In terms of the spatial distribution, South America is the epicentre. Ecuador is a typical example of where the RoN Movement has been largely successful while USA is a good example of where it has not. As the experience of Ecuador has shown, the success of RoN requires an effective mobilization of the citizenry.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W4411597486

DOI

10.55908/sdgs.v13i6.4434

OPENAIRE

doi_dedup___::78fc291aa1886bbc140e5e2305d4a907

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article · article

Natural entities mentioned

River · Forest · Mountain

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/10.55908/sdgs.v13i6.4434
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W4411597486

Documented bibliographic relations

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

• Constructing the Rights of Nature: Constitutional Reform, Mobilization, and Environmental Protection in Ecuador · CITES
• openalex:w2035871589 · CITES
• openalex:w2071549457 · CITES
• openalex:w2140005563 · CITES
• openalex:w2175087650 · CITES
• openalex:w2754447015 · CITES
• At the Intersection of the Sacred and the Legal: Rights for Nature in Uttarakhand, India · CITES
• openalex:w2903808877 · CITES
• openalex:w2971436342 · CITES
• openalex:w3044970315 · CITES
• Rights of nature, legal personality, and indigenous philosophies · CITES
• Stop Burying the Lede: The Essential Role of Indigenous Law(s) in Creating Rights of Nature · CITES
• Legal rights for the Turag: rivers as living entities in Bangladesh · CITES
• Rights of Nature in Practice: A Case Study on the Impacts of the Colombian Atrato River Decision · CITES
• Understanding the Rights of Nature: A Critical Introduction · CITES
• openalex:w4232998997 · CITES
• openalex:w4247040722 · CITES
• Putting the rights of nature on the map. A quantitative analysis of rights of nature initiatives across the world · CITES
• openalex:w4285999013 · CITES
• The River’s Legal Personhood: A Branch Growing on Canada’s Multi-Juridical Living Tree · CITES

6 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

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