Global Legal Pluralism and Rights of Nature

Rights of nature have moved from being a slightly eccentric niche topic to a mainstream field of research. First introduced to legal systems of the Southern hemisphere, they have since found their way into Northern legal systems, from Canada to Spain. Yet they face rejection in many others. As a legal innovation from the Global South making its way to the North, they are of special importance for a decolonial comparative law that avoids and overcomes Eurocentrism, and for studies of legal pluralism that go beyond state law. This collection brings together two general reports, five special reports and 20 country reports first prepared for the 2022 World Congress of the International Association of Comparative Law and since thoroughly updated. By linking rights of nature with discussions on global legal pluralism, it contributes to a deeper understanding of both phenomena. It innovatively groups countries into three categories - poietic systems at the origin of rights of nature, mimetic systems that adopted the concept, and resistant systems that did not. The latter category especially has so far escaped attention, and yet resistance, and the reasons for it, are crucial elements in understanding rights of nature. The book combines formal law with an analysis of socioeconomic and cultural conditions, and analyses in particular the local and transnational movements behind the adoption of rights of nature.