Rivers have rights
A new legal movement that recognizes the indigenous value of reciprocity that could also stand against the power of corporate personhood on behalf of a pond, an ecosystem, a river. It includes a bill of rights for the municipality against polluters allowed by the state.
It’s a growing movement to enshrine a legal instrument that describes the inherent rights associated with ecosystems and species. As such, the Rights of Nature concept challenges post-Enlightenment laws as grounded in a framework of nature as a “resource”, to be owned, used, and degraded. In this framework, humankind is the central or most important element of existence. If nature is given ‘personhood’, then legally, it would be equal to humankind, but this poses problems.
The Unviversal Declaration of the rights of rivers link [[1]]
The Magpie River is the first river with rights in Canada. [[2]]
Several tribes, including some large ones in the southeast are looking into being part of the movement of rivers having legal rights.
A webinar, video and documents done by a German university group that included Eastern Band and Katuah Band Cherokee on rights of nature [[3]]
Rivers have rights is a path to Climate justice. Long latent it has gained momentum as people have acknowledged the indigenous view of nature as connecting all of life, we are all relaions.
River Network site [[4]]
River care, western north carolina, heat harming trout [[5]]
Local Black Mountain or Buncombe potential allies
Court cases on river rights the number of court cases has tripled since 2017 [[6]]
Rationale for rights of nature to fight polluters
A slide deck by Ben Price on how to devise a community action plan for river rights in a city or town.
Non profit quarterly; a radical approach to climate justice [[7]]
“ Until recently, environmental personhood was a fringe legal doctrine. However, the principle has recently undergone a kind of revival. Its growing relevance in contemporary environmental justice is intrinsically linked to the influence of indigenous ways of seeing the relationship between human beings and the world. Global legal developments are a testament to the impact that indigenous populations are having on discourse regarding the protection of the environment.”
Article by Cassandra Roxburgh, white African, also writes on gender
The GW University environmental rights blog [[8]]
Rights of rivers declaration link [[9]]
CELDF offers free legal assistance for communities working for the rights of a river. [[10]]
Copies of rights of nature ordinances
Rights of nature legal timeline pdf w links [[11]]
Rivers with rights can sue to protect themselves. Scientific American story, on NZ and Ecuador [[12]]
The Magpie River first Canadian river with legal rights.
Rivers have rights through the same legal fiction as corporations having the rights of personhood. Link [[13]]
Will river personhood save this NZ river? Guardian story [[14]]
The Hoosic River Watershed is one of the most organized efforts to win the rights for a river that a corporation already has link [[15]]
The midwest’s Ogalala Aquifer is running dry link [[16]]
Negotiated rights on the Klammath River U.S. link to case study [[17]]
The rights of rivers and beavers in the UK
The seven states and the Climate rights of the Colorado link [[18]]
Link [[19]]
The Wanganui River in New Zealand link [[20]]
Federal judge strikes down Lake Erie ‘s bill of rights. Link [[21]
The Earth Law Center had made a declaration of River rights link [[22]]