Could Rights of Nature work in Scotland?

Rights of Nature is a social and legal movement to give nature rights that can be represented in court and environmental governance.

Our new explainer briefing gives an overview of the growing and complex Rights of Nature movement at international, national and local levels. It describes the design of initiatives, such as giving legal standing for nature’s rights and recognising legal personhood for rivers, and considers what their impact has been for nature and people.

Considerations for Scotland

There is no doubt that the Rights of Nature movement is playing an important part in redefining human-nature relationships and acknowledging our responsibilities to nature in shifting from extractivism to stewardship.

The UK has had a growing number of Rights of Nature initiatives in the past few years. Last year, a parliamentary petition to grant Scottish rivers legal personhood by The Empire Café raised concerns over privatisation and ineffective protection of the River Clyde for the benefit of nature and the public.

ERCS wholeheartedly agrees with the values of Rights of Nature – the right of ecosystems and species to exist and flourish regardless of their utility and commercial value. Notwithstanding, we find limited evidence that incorporating Rights of Nature improves ecological outcomes in the short-term.

Importantly, Rights of Nature initiatives are often motivated by failures of environmental governance structures which ERCS is committed to challenging, as well as testing all legal tools to protect nature.  Our briefing concludes with key questions for Scotland, and our Law Service can offer free legal advice to anyone who is seeking to recognise Rights of Nature at a local authority level.  

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Header image: ‘Clyde‘ by Harry Macgregor, CC BY-NC 2.0