The Politics of Riverine Rights : Environmental Struggles in Aotearoa New Zealand, Colombia and India

Abstract

This edited collection, based on comparative, multi-sited ethnographic research, explores the concept of riverine rights in relation to rivers in New Zealand, Columbia and India that have been declared legal persons or subjects of rights: the Whanganui, the Atrato, the Ganges and the Yamuna. The cases drew significant attention from academia and the wider public, as examples of the Rights of Nature in practice. This book contributes with in-depth empirical research carried out by a highly interdisciplinary team of co-authors – from anthropology, law, history, political science, management studies and water science – many of whom are from the case study countries and the river basins. The first chapters carefully examine each case, discussing its history, the institutional context, the actors and interests, the issues to be addressed by the legal decisions, and their outcomes. Subsequent chapters provide detailed comparative analysis on the Rights of Nature, legal pluralism, the struggles of Indigenous and marginalized groups, and on different ontological understandings of the relations between people, rivers and nature. The book concludes with reflections on how these cases of riverine rights relate to global trends, and discusses the tensions and synergies between Human Rights and Nature’s Rights, with a particular emphasis on how Indigenous Rights intersect with Rivers’ Rights. Finally, it argues for a broad notion of Riverine Rights that includes those who live by the river, and beyond Riverine Rights, to the social, cultural and political dimensions of the legal innovations, and to the larger environmental crises they seek to address. This interdisciplinary book will be essential reading for academics and researchers across social sciences and law with an interest in how social struggles, environmental justice and innovative legislation intersect for the wellbeing of rivers and their people.