Rights of nature and the need for multi-level governance

Abstract This special issue presents cases where the courts and civil society have attempted to link ecological, social and political approaches to environmental protection through a new, eco-centric paradigm of nights of nature. Rights of nature builds from an indigenous cosmovision that recognizes nature as an entity with rights and the need to restore the balance between ecosystems and human communities. This paradigmatic shift in legal thought, situates the natural world not only as a matter of environmental concern but as a bearer of intrinsic rights. Rights of Nature gives civil society groups a mechanism to bring cases before the courts and engage directly in river protection and restoration, as the cases in this special issue show. However, there are challenges in implementation – ontological, practical and legal. A multi-level governance system is required, that links scientific with local knowledge, legal decisions with environmental remediation, and local monitoring with state sanctioning power. We illustrate a successful case of river restoration, the Rouge River in the US, to show how an effective multi-level governance system can work. For rights of nature to be effective, we need the state to play more than a role as judge in the courts. Scientific knowledge, environmental remediation and enforcement require the state to exercise its sanctioning power and financial support. Otherwise, rights of nature could be a rhetorical empty promise.