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 Colère publique • Co-creation • Venice Lagoon • Hydrofeminism • Hydro bodies • Belonging • Limits • Literature • Making • Aquatic doppelgängers • Political legibility • Rights of Nature • Landscape • Walking • Poetry • Lake Vättern • Voice • Wales • Degrowth • Artistic research • Commons • Representation • Buen Vivir • Sedimenting • Legal personhood • Collaboration • Somatic listening • North Sea • Ecocentrism • Orthopedics of waters • Altered nature • Ecological justice • More-than-Human • Rights for Nature • River as a subject • Mar Menor • Care • Posthumanism • Ethics • Local ecological knowledge • Affective pedagogy • Water bodies • River justice • Listening • Textile • Drawing • Fundamental rights • Civic design • Spatial design • Subjectification • Relationality • Environmental humanities • Rights of nature • River Taff • Conviviality • Waterbodies • Socio-ecological systems • Deep ecology • Collective • Sensory ethnography • Water governance • Embodiment • Situated practice • Natural entities • Ceremony • Multispecies • Placed-based art research • Unlearning • Overview effect • Multi-species stewardship • Temporalities • Water • Imaginaries • Legal personality • Bioregional governance • Constitution • Sketchbooks • Meuse • Institutional design, Green Legal Theory • More-than-human rights • Siphonophorae Society • Democracy • Pedagogy • Amphibious living • Po River • Ecofeminism • More-than-humandesign • Charter of the Rights • Reuss-Initiative • Ontological politics • Venice • River personhood • Embodied knowledges • Decolonisation • Social-ecological transformation • Biopolitics
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.