Rights of Nature and European Water Bodies: Ways of Relating from the Confluence
open access | peer reviewed-
edited by
- Pietro Consolandi - University of Southampton - email
- Martin Hultman - University of Gothenburg - email
- Angela Snæfellsjökuls Rawlings - University of Iceland - email
- Julia Schasfoort - Delft University of Technology - email
Building on a diverse wealth of contributions around the topic of Rights of Nature (RoN) in Europe, this Special Issue stems from the artists, activists and academics, water people who animate the Confluence of European Water Bodies network. The essays focus on different ways of relating with water bodies in order to grant them recognition before the law and within more-than-human systems of law and governance. The Special Issues contributes to the lively discussion on how to move beyond anthropocentric environmental law and policy, giving voice to the web of life in which we are entangled and the grassroots, marginalised communities participating in this struggle. The geographical focus on Europe shows the manifold points of view within the continent, often described as late in joining the RoN movement or culturally allergic to any kind of ecocentric shift.
Keywords Local ecological knowledge • Posthumanism • Relationality • Amphibious living • Placed-based art research • Sedimenting • Buen Vivir • Sensory ethnography • Natural entities • Situated practice • Altered nature • Fundamental rights • Lake Vättern • Social-ecological transformation • Water bodies • Unlearning • River as a subject • Artistic research • Making • Po River • Civic design • River justice • More-than-humandesign • Venice • Ethics • More-than-Human • Hydrofeminism • Representation • Poetry • Ecological justice • Limits • Legal personhood • Decolonisation • Aquatic doppelgängers • Walking • Rights for Nature • Legal personality • Voice • Belonging • Political legibility • Subjectification • Landscape • Mar Menor • Siphonophorae Society • Imaginaries • Socio-ecological systems • Wales • Deep ecology • More-than-human rights • Co-creation • Biopolitics • Orthopedics of waters • Textile • Literature • Environmental humanities • Rights of Nature • Affective pedagogy • Degrowth • Care • Meuse • Democracy • River personhood • Drawing • Conviviality • Institutional design, Green Legal Theory • Rights of nature • Pedagogy • Waterbodies • Bioregional governance • Hydro bodies • Constitution • Overview effect • Collective • Charter of the Rights • Collaboration • Multispecies • Colère publique • Spatial design • Water governance • Listening • Venice Lagoon • Commons • Embodiment • Ecocentrism • Somatic listening • Embodied knowledges • Reuss-Initiative • Multi-species stewardship • Ontological politics • River Taff • Water • Sketchbooks • North Sea • Ecofeminism • Temporalities • Ceremony
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/LGSP/2785-2709/2026/01 | Published Aug. 6, 2026 | Language en
Copyright © Pietro Consolandi, Martin Hultman, Angela Snæfellsjökuls Rawlings, Julia Schasfoort. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.