Global Legal Pluralism and Rights of Nature

Name: Global Legal Pluralism and Rights of Nature
ISBN: 978-3-16-200403-1

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-200403-1

Global Legal Pluralism and Rights of Nature

Edited by Daniel Bonilla Maldonado and Ralf Michaels

2026. 667 pages.

Beiträge zum ausländischen und internationalen Privatrecht (BtrIPR) 151

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-200403-1

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Summary

Können Wälder und Flüsse Rechte haben? Dieser Band vereint Länderberichte aus Rechtsordnungen, die Rechte der Natur entwickelt oder übernommen haben, ebenso wie aus jenen, die sie ablehnen, sowie eine eingehende Analyse in zwei Generalberichten. Damit bietet er die bislang umfassendste Untersuchung dieses Phänomens.

Rights of nature have moved from being a slightly eccentric niche topic to a mainstream field of research. First introduced to legal systems of the Southern hemisphere, they have since found their way into Northern legal systems, from Canada to Spain. Yet they face rejection in many others. As a legal innovation from the Global South making its way to the North, they are of special importance for a decolonial comparative law that avoids and overcomes Eurocentrism, and for studies of legal pluralism that go beyond state law.
This collection brings together two general reports, five special reports and 20 country reports first prepared for the 2022 World Congress of the International Association of Comparative Law and since thoroughly updated. By linking rights of nature with discussions on global legal pluralism, it contributes to a deeper understanding of both phenomena. It innovatively groups countries into three categories - poietic systems at the origin of rights of nature, mimetic systems that adopted the concept, and resistant systems that did not. The latter category especially has so far escaped attention, and yet resistance, and the reasons for it, are crucial elements in understanding rights of nature. The book combines formal law with an analysis of socioeconomic and cultural conditions, and analyses in particular the local and transnational movements behind the adoption of rights of nature.

Table of contents:

I. General Reports
Daniel Bonilla Maldonado: The Globalization of Rights of Nature. Global Legal Pluralism and the Rights of Nature - Ralf Michaels: A Hybrid of Hybrids. Global Legal Pluralism and Rights of Nature
II. Special Reports
Mihnea Tănăsescu: Theoretical Foundations of the Rights of Nature. Origins and Conceptual Characteristics - Mara Tignino: International Law. Rights of Nature and Rights to Nature: Emerging Trends - Dirk Hanschel/Annette Mehlhorn: Law and Anthropology. An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Rights of Nature - Mari Margil: NGOs in the United States. Birth of a Movement - Yenny Vega Cárdenas/Uapukun Mestokosho: Recognizing the Legal Personality of a River. The Magpie River/Mutehekau Shipu in Canada
III. Poietic Legal Orders
Gabriela Espinoza: Ecuador. The Nature of the Rights of Nature - Cletus Gregor Barié: Bolivia. The Rights of Mother Earth: Fifteen Years of Solitude - Catherine Iorns: Aotearoa New Zealand. Protecting Nature through Upholding Indigenous Rights and Human Responsibilities
IV. Mimetic Legal Orders
Tania Luna Blanco/David de la Torre Vargas: Colombia. Graffiti on the Colombian Legal Architecture: The Emergence of Non-human Subjects and the Rights of Nature - Manjeri Subin Sunder Raj: India. Sowing the Seeds of 'Nature Rights' - Tajudeen Sanni: Uganda - Louis J. Kotzé: South Africa. Protecting Nature through an Anthropocentric-Oriented Rights Paradigm
V. Resisting Legal Orders
Antonio Carlos Wolkmer/Debora Ferrazzo: Brazil. Isolated Legislative and Judicial Inroads in a Dependent Capitalism Landscape - Jacques deLisle: China. Limited Prospects for the Rights of Nature in an Inhospitable Legal-Political Environment - Konstantinos A Rokas: Cyprus. Constitutional Adoption of a Right to Nature, but No Formal Recognition of Nature's Rights - Jakub Harašta: Czech Republic. An Anthropocentric Approach to Environmental Protection - Yvette Lind: Denmark. Could Danish Human- and Animal-Rights based Environmental Protection Provide Rights to Nature? - Elena Ewering/Janina Reimann/Tore Vetter: Germany. Rights of Nature: A Paradigm Change for the German Legal System - Domenico di Micco/Michele Graziadei: Italy. Establishing the Rights of Nature in Italy: Between Tradition and Change - Keisuke Mark Abe: Japan. Bringing the Alternative View to Fruition - Phillip Paiement: The Netherlands. Rights of Nature, Globalization, and Legal Pluralism - Sören Koch/Esmeralda Colombo/Catalina Vallejo Piedrahíta: Norway. Rights of Nature in the Norwegian Legal Culture: To Be or Not to Be? - Stéphanie Roy/Gaële Gidrol-Mistral/Alexandra Popovici: Québec (and Canada). Nature, Culture, Rupture: Tools for Environmental Protection in a Liberal Anthropocentric Legal System - Diana Botău: Romania. Unfertile Ground for the Rights of Nature - Laura Affolter/Sian Affolter: Switzerland. Mapping the Scene

Authors/Editors

Daniel Bonilla Maldonado is Full Professor of Law at the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá.

https://orcid.org/0000000283036783

Ralf Michaels is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg; Chair of Global Law, Queen Mary University in London; Professor of Law, University of Hamburg.

https://orcid.org/0000000321433094