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The current global scenario is marked by conflicts, inequalities, and geopolitical tensions, which have created a growing sense of global insecurity, combined with the stagnation of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the worsening of the climate emergency. This situation presents outcomes completely opposed to the promise of a better future, with greater prosperity and peace, which technological and scientific advances were supposed to bring to both people and the planet. These outcomes also demonstrate that we are wasting the opportunity to use technology, science, and global interconnectedness to achieve the aforementioned improvements (United Nations, 2024, Dec 22nd).
The global community needs to find real solutions capable of changing the course we are setting for the future of the planet and humanity.
In this regard, during the Summit of the Future, held in September 2024, world leaders made a series of commitments to sustainable development, financing for development, peace, international security, science, technology, innovation and digital cooperation, youth, future generations, and the transformation of global governance, establishing the “Pact for the Future” and its annexes: the “Global Digital Compact” and the “Declaration on Future Generations”, which aim to create international mechanisms to respond to current and future challenges and opportunities, striving for more security, justice, sustainability, and prosperity (United Nations, 2024, Sep).
In face to this scenario, environmental protection has become one of the greatest challenges for the global community. To address this, we need to mobilize all the means and resources available across various fields of knowledge. Among the tools available for environmental protection, ecological awareness and the transformative power of legal systems stand out, as well as the influences these instruments can have on each other in a mutual and continuous manner.
This issue presents the contributions of the participants of the international DAAD Blended Mobility Project “Giving nature its own rights - ethical and legal perspectives and the influence on the realization of selected SDGs” which took place in wintersemester 2025 at Trier University of Applied Science, Environmental Campus Birkenfeld (UCB) under the guidance of Prof. Valeva and Prof. Nitschmann and in collaboration with the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and the University of Coimbra supported by Prof. Zegarra (PUCP) and Prof. Aragão (University of Coimbra).
The DAAD funded project used the concept of global education to strengthen students' democratic competences and social participation and integrates intercultural dimensions into teaching. Its content is in the context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and is linked to the curricular content of the studies “Non-Profit Management”, “Environmental Economics and Environmental Law” and “Sustainable Business and Technology” at the UCB. As part of the project, students and professors from Peru and Portugal visited the UCB for a workshop week in the winter semester 2024/25.
Understanding and methods for interpreting the global agenda of the UN regarding the SDGs were developed within the framework of this ESD project. Students worked together in teams virtually and in person under the guidance of experts to critically evaluate existing anthropocentric systems and their imbalances and to develop strategies for overcoming the challenges of an ecocentered approach for the law and the system in general (institutions, companies, civil society).
Ahead of the mobility phase and the technical content on the SDGs and diverse Rights of Nature (RoN) perspectives, language and culture were key themes in the two virtual kick-off events. This approach made it possible to raise transcultural and ecological awareness and thus paves the way for interdisciplinary knowledge building in teams. The intense mobility week started off with creating international mixed teams which were the work groups for the whole week. Input was given by experts within moderated panel discussions referring to different perspectives such as ethics and society and law and culture.
The project focused on the Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park as a natural entity and local example, serving as a starting point for case studies from selected countries to provide a broad basis for interpreting SDGs 13, 14, 15, and 16. Students were introduced to the biodiversity of the park by an expert ranger and used it as an experience-oriented and stimulating place to experience the intelligence of nature.
To perform a well-prepared simulated parliament debate, four internationally composed teams were defined, whereby a particular real case study in the area of RoN was assigned to two teams. The preparation of the debate included the assignment of the debate’s roles to the team’s members and clarification of the functions of the given roles. The material preparation included research for and discussion about the relevant information, and the training of the argumentation scenarios. They prepared themselves or two possible scenarios: confirmation of the launching of RoN or rejection of it. The two case studies were defined as follows:
1. Grant legal rights to the Maranon River, demanding its protection as a rights-bearing entity, now!
2. Grant the status of a subject of rights to the little fox “Run Run”, now!
The debate concept allowed the students to transfer their theoretic knowledge in practical skills and thus contributes to the learning outcome of defending democratic values by contributing actively in democratic processes. With the idea to perpetuate the outcome of the project this issue publishes the student works related to the final debate and is completed by professors’ perspectives.
Content:
CHAPTER 1 – Theoretical Impulses and Panel Discussions within the DAAD Rights of Nature Project 2024 (Report)
Alexandra Aragão:
Foundations for a theory of radical legal eco-innovation: the paradigm of Rights of Nature
Milena Valeva:
Panel Discussion on Democracy, Rights of Nature and Social Norm Dynamics
Kathrin Nitschmann:
Researching the problem: Would an Rights of Nature Concept be THE solution?
Nina Giordano:
The Te Awa Tupua Act: How Nature’s Legal Standing Strengthens Indigenous and Human Rights
CHAPTER 2 – Part I – Case Study: Granting legal rights to the Maranon River as a rights-bearing entity
Lynette Annau:
Granting Rights to Naturals Objects: The Future of Environmental Protection or Cultural Mismatch?
Jesus Bernal:
Anthropocentrism – an Obstacle to the Protection of Nature
Malika Arstan:
Economic Advantages of Granting the Rights of Nature
Claudia Rocio Crespo Chavez:
Is Europe Ready to Embrace the Recognition of Nature’s Rights?
CHAPTER 2 – Part II – Case Study: Granting legal rights to the Maranon River as a rights-bearing entity
Ana Murhiel Diaz Aguilar:
Going to the Court doesn’t ensure that the environment will be protected
Lilly Roth:
Legal Instruments to Protect the Environment outside of Rights of Nature
Tobias Becker:
Public Support and Challenges in Recognizing the Rights of Nature: A European Perspective
Maria J. Paixão:
Legal Fetishism in Times of Polycrisis
CHAPTER 3 – Part I – Case Study: Granting a Status of a Subject of Rights to the Peruvian Little Fox “Run Run”
Jamie Moser:
The Case of Run Run and the Emergence of a Nature – Centered Legal Framework
José Heleno P. Vanzeler:
Ecological Awareness and the Power of Law in Realizing the Rights of Nature
Roya Qazen:
From the Rights of Man to the Social Contract for Geoethics toward the Rights of Nature
Amanda Erin Regalado Romero:
Foundations for the recognition of the Rights of Nature in the European Union
CHAPTER 3 – Part II – Case Study: Granting a Status of a Subject of Rights to the Peruvian Little Fox “Run Run”
Ronald Sebastián Yaipén Polo:
The Rights of Nature: The Answer to a Poorly Framed Debate
Maria Eduarda Terra e Zeitune:
Economic Challenges and the Rights of Nature: A Conflict Between Sustainable Growth and Environmental Conservation
Yannick Wagner:
Culture matters – Why the Rights of Nature don't fit the European Union