Understanding the Rights of Nature: A Critical Introduction

by Mihnea Tanasescu

Rivers, landscapes, whole territories: these are the latest entities environmental activists have fought hard to include in the relentless expansion of rights in our world. But what does it mean for a landscape to have rights? Why would anyone want to create such rights, and to what end? Is it a good idea, and does it come with risks? This book presents the logic behind giving nature rights and discusses the most important cases in which this has happened, ranging from constitutional rights of nature in Ecuador to rights for rivers in New Zealand, Colombia, and India. Mihnea Tanasescu offers clear answers to the thorny questions that the intrusion of nature into law is sure to raise.

168 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Isabella Hucknall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super super delightful!!! Tănăsescu’s lucid and charming exploration of this topic delicately balances the legal and pragmatic tensions of the rights of nature with philosophical and moral considerations, every idea he introduces judiciously examined through each lens. His theoretical analysis is interwoven with a thorough history of nature rights cases, delivered through episodes of exquisite expository prose. Since the development of ideas and the historical narrative progress in parallel throughout the book, it is best enjoyed cover to cover; the accretion of concepts, arguments, and cases as part of his wider arguments might not be done justice by a chapter read in isolation, uninformed by the context of preceding discussion.