Editor’s choice
Editor’s choice
Legal measures that recognize the rights of rivers (RoR) and associated ecosystems are becoming increasingly common in environmental governance. RoR, and broader rights of nature (RoN), are legal recognitions that accommodate stewardship perspectives from Indigenous laws and environmental protection from Western laws. This is a relatively new phenomenon that, in addition to legislation, requires new mechanisms such as guardianship arrangements to implement it and case law to establish practice.
Evidence of RoR implementation is still nascent and has resulted in mixed outcomes. RoR rulings and implementations that fully recognize Indigenous or local community stewardship, have engaged with existing traditional and Indigenous practices, knowledge, and institutions and recognized their roles in protecting biodiversity and nature. However, RoR and broader RoN recognition and implementation have been misinterpreted in some cases to disenfranchise Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in the form of exclusion of local users in environmental management and governance.
The project is adapted to Polcaps KI framework to address factors in successful adoption: Legal mechanisms, Guardianship arrangements, Epistemic politics, Governance alignment and Historical and colonial legacy across three case studies: The Atrato River, Colombia; The Whanganui River, New Zealand and the Turag River, Bangladesh.
Our objective is to identify strategies for the effective implementation of the RoR that comprehensively represent the rivers’ intrinsic rights, while empowering guardians and officials to achieve just, equitable, legitimate and inclusive governance.
We have engaged with IPLCs who are appointed guardians, government agencies and management bodies in three case study areas. We will produce innovative research to identify obstacles to effective governance and why they function as they do to address the following questions:
Project outputs will include a case study report detailing the tree case studies and synthesizing our findings, and a policy brief detailing the framework that we have used to analyze effectiveness of RoR approaches.
Initiative / Our work aims to transform current decision making around access to water, the greatest risk to global prosperity, and addressing the SDGs.
Past event / This session will explore narratives on how resilience is built through the transfer of water and water-mediated resources in and out of watershed boundaries.
SEI podcast / In this episode, we will talk with our guest Max Stevenson about protecting our natural ecosystems, like the Chinook Salmon and Putah Creek’s history.
Feature / A recent field visit to the Nong Han Lake in northeast Thailand showed the importance of “going beyond the watershed” for improved water management.
