Call for Papers

Workshop: The Roots of Rights – Transforming Biodiversity Governance and Values through Rights of Nature, 25.-26.09.2023, Halle (Saale), Germany

The workshop examines the role of local and esp. indigenous forms of participation for the justification, establishment and enforcement of the Rights of Nature (RoN).

RoN are an innovative form of environmental governance and legislation gaining more and more importance all over the world. Understanding the dynamics of the institutionalization and contestation of RoN as well as its underlying values, goals and paradigms in very different socio-ecological settings is the objective of this workshop.

In Germany, RoN are demanded by numerous civil society actors and a citizens' initiative in the Free State of Bavaria. In New Zealand the geographical features Te Urewera (2014), the Whanganui River and the Mount Taranaki (both 2017) were granted legal personality esp. at the instigation of Maori people. The aim of the workshop is to reveal the processes that have led, or could potentially lead, to the establishment and use of rights of nature. We investigate the role of socio-culturally shaped values of nature (relational values) and transformative elements (inclusive, adaptive, informed, integrated) of biodiversity governance.

A question to debate is, whether the socio-ecological roots of Rights of Nature have something in common in diverse cultural contexts esp. in Oceania, Latin-America or Europe or if they should be understood as locally distinct initiatives of very different actors with specific interests.

Please send an abstract of max. 400 words (Deadline: 30.06.2023) to: Dr. Stefan Knauß, stefan.knauss@geo.uni-halle.de

The Workshop the “Roots of Rights” is supported by the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute for Geosciences and Geography (Dept. Sustainable Landscape Development), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the UFZ - Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (Dept. Conservation Biology & Social-Ecological Systems). 

Location: Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ), Halle (Saale)