LeidenGlobal Annual Event | Should Nature be given Rights?

The LeidenGlobal Annual Event on 30 September is organised by the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies and Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology at Leiden University. The event will consist of a Masterclass at KITLV, followed up by a Panel Discussion and drinks & bites afterwards, organised at Wereldmuseum Leiden.

Should nature be given rights? Recently, the idea that nature should have legal rights has gained support worldwide. However, is the idea of giving rights to nature the best way to produce a new kind of human-nature relationship? If nature has legal personhood, could entities such as states or corporations sue rivers for flooding? And is there a risk that ecosystems with rights will displace indigenous communities, whose worldviews often lie at the basis of these rights?

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