Table Of ContentSustainability and the
Rights of Nature in Practise
Social–Environmental Sustainability
Series Editor
Chris Maser
Published Titles
Decision-Making for a Sustainable Environment:
A Systemic Approach
Chris Maser
Biosequestration and Ecological Diversity:
Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change and Environmental Degradation
Wayne A. White
Insects and Sustainability of Ecosystem Services
Timothy D. Schowalter
Land-Use Planning for Sustainable Development, Second Edition
Jane Silberstein and Chris Maser
Interactions of Land, Ocean and Humans:
A Global Perspective
Chris Maser
Sustainability and the Rights of Nature:
An Introduction
Cameron La Follette and Chris Maser
Fundamentals of Practical Environmentalism
Mark B. Weldon
Economics and Ecology:
United for a Sustainable World
Charles R. Beaton and Chris Maser
Resolving Environmental Conflicts:
Principles and Concepts, Third Edition
Chris Maser and Lynette de Silva
Sustainability and the Rights of Nature in Practise
Cameron La Follette and Chris Maser
For more information on this series, please visit: https://www.crcpress.com/
Social-Environmental-Sustainability/book-series/CRCSOCENVSUS
Sustainability and the
Rights of Nature in Practise
Edited by
Cameron La Follette
Chris Maser
Front cover photo of the Whanganui River of New Zealand © Lynne L. Reid, 2017.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: La Follette, Cameron, author. | Maser, Chris, author.
Title: Sustainability and the rights of nature in practise / Chris Maser, Cameron La Follette.
Description: Boca Raton : CRC Press 2019. | Summary: “This book provides practitioners from
diverse cultures around the world the opportunity to describe their own projects, successes, and
challenges in moving toward a legal personhood for Nature. It includes contributions from Nepal,
New Zealand, U.S. Native American cultures, and Scotland, amongst others, by practitioners
working on projects that can be integrated into a Rights of Nature framework. The authors also
tackle required changes to shift the paradigm such as thinking of Nature in a sacred manner,
questioning Nature’s rights versus human rights, conceptualization of restoration, and the removal
of a large-scale energy infrastructure”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019021497 | ISBN 9781138584518 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429505959 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Environmental law, International. | Rights of nature. | Sustainable
development--Law and legislation. | Nature conservation--Law and legislation. | Environmental
protection--International cooperation. | Environmentalism--International cooperation. |
Sustainability--International cooperation. | Nature--Effect of human beings on.
Classification: LCC K3585 .L34 2019 | DDC 344.04/6--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019021497
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
We dedicate this book to all those working to bring true sustainability, and a
respectful relationship with Nature, to fruition for the benefit of all generations
Contents
Series Preface ..................................................................................................................................ix
Preface ..............................................................................................................................................xi
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................xiii
Editors .............................................................................................................................................xv
Contributors ................................................................................................................................xvii
Section I Concepts and Overviews
1. Introduction: Rights of Nature, Sacred Lands and Sustainability in the
Western Tradition ...................................................................................................................3
Cameron La Follette
2. Defending the Tree of Life: The Ethical Justification for the Rights of Nature
in a Theory of Justice ...........................................................................................................13
Kathryn Anne Gwiazdon
3. Rights of Nature: Myth, Films, Laws and the Future ...................................................39
Eugen Cadaru
4. Nature’s Rights in Permaculture .......................................................................................59
W. D. Scott Pittman
Section II The Struggle for Sustainability and
the Rights of Nature
5. Kiribati and Climate Change .............................................................................................79
His Eminence Anote Tong
6. ‘When God Put Daylight on Earth We Had One Voice’
Kwakwaka’wakw Perspectives on Sustainability and the Rights of Nature ..........89
Douglas Deur, Kim Recalma-Clutesi and Clan Chief Kwaxsistalla Adam Dick
7. Environmental Sustainability: The Case of Bhutan ...................................................113
Dechen Lham
8. The Restoration of the Caledonian Forest and the Rights of Nature ......................141
Alan Watson Featherstone
9. The Significance of the Stewardship Ethic of the Indigenous Peoples of
Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region on Biodiversity Conservation ....................................167
Ngozi F. Unuigbe
vii
viii Contents
10. German Energiewende: A Way to Sustainable Societies? .........................................191
Michael W. Schröter and Dani Fössl
11. Seasonally Flooded Savannas of South America: Sustainability and the
Cattle-Wildlife Mosaic ......................................................................................................205
Almira Hoogesteijn, José Luis Febles and Rafael Hoogesteijn
12. Ocean Rights: The Baltic Sea and World Ocean Health .............................................237
Michelle Bender
Section III Rights of Nature in the Law
13. A River Is Born: New Zealand Confers Legal Personhood on the Whanganui
River to Protect It and Its Native People ........................................................................259
The Honorable Christopher Finlayson
14. The Rights of Nature in Ecuador: An Overview of the New Environmental
Paradigm ...............................................................................................................................279
Hugo Echeverria and Francisco José Bustamante Romo Leroux
15. The Godavari Marble Case and Rights of Nature Discourse in Nepal ..................295
Jony Mainaly
16. Nature’s Rights: Why the European Union Needs a Paradigm Shift in Law to
Achieve Its 2050 Vision .....................................................................................................311
Mumta Ito
17. Nature’s Rights through Lawmaking in the United States .......................................331
Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin and Michelle Amelia Newman
18. The Experiment with Rights of Nature in India ..........................................................365
Kelly D. Alley and Tarini Mehta
19. Caring for Country and Rights of Nature in Australia: A Conversation
between Earth Jurisprudence and Aboriginal Law and Ethics ................................385
Mary Graham and Michelle Maloney
20. Conclusion: Nature’s Laws of Reciprocity ....................................................................401
Chris Maser
Index .............................................................................................................................................405
Series Preface
In reading this book, keep in mind that Nature functions perfectly without any human
‘help’ or intervention, which means Nature’s value is entirely intrinsic and self reinforcing.
But the majority of people feel that Nature, as a resource, is wasted if it is not used for their
benefit – hence the concept of ‘conversion potential’. In other words, how can a particular
natural resource be converted into a commercial product for human use, thereby giving it
economic value?
Here, a basic principle is that community programs must be founded on local
requirements and cultural values in balance with those of the broader world, which
includes understanding and acknowledging environmental issues, long-term biophysical
trends, and their social–environmental ramifications. After all, social–environmental
sustainability is a common relationship between people and the natural environment,
based on the constraints of the underlying biophysical principles that maintain the lands
and waters in a sustainably productive state. Simply put, as we honour our relationship
with Nature in a sustainable way, we honour all generations. As we abuse Nature by
overexploitation, we abuse all generations.
Maintaining a respectful relationship with Nature – by placing its right to flourish
foremost in human economics – forms a critical, worldwide nexus between the social–
environmental sustainability of people in the present and those of the future. With
respect to every culture worldwide, it is imperative that we take personal responsibility
for our words, deeds, decisions, actions and their consequences, because the first step
toward social–environmental sustainability begins with the respect and the quality
of the care we give ourselves. We must then extend that respect and care to our
families, friends, neighbours and Nature, because community sustainability is the
foundation of every nation. This said, the degree of mutual caring, cooperation and
long-term sustainability of the landscape characterises a community and reflects the
psychophysical health of its citizenry.
And it is our humility and consent to the Rights of Nature, by prioritising and repairing
our relationship with Nature, that determines the legacy we leave – one that in today’s
world either progressively liberates or progressively impoverishes all generations. The
choice of how we, the adults of the world, behave is ours – either with psychological
maturity and sacred humility or self-indulgence and monetary arrogance. Fortunately,
our human consciousness is elevating as the Rights of Nature paradigm continues to
spread in countries throughout the world – illustrated in part by the courageous articles
in this book.
Finally, this CRC series of books on the various facets of social–environmental
sustainability is a forum wherein those who dare to seek harmony and wholeness can
struggle to integrate disciplines and balance the material world with the spiritual, the
scientific with the social, and in so doing expose their vulnerabilities, human frailties and
hope, as well as their visions for a good-quality, sustainable future.
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