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Abstract
Rights of nature have quickly have become part of the transnational lexicon of rights. Though a recent and still liminal trend, they have begun to inform approaches to environmental protection as well as to relations with indigenous peoples, and in particular to the connection between the two. This chapter explores foundational texts in the rights of nature corpus juris, and argues that they point to three distinct strands of argumentation for the importance and meaning of rights of nature. Those who advocate for rights of nature tend to draw on all three strands of justificatory argument at once without distinguishing between them. Ultimately, however, whether rights of nature will be viewed as participating in the liberal democratic canon or challenging it may turn on which strand predominates.
Bibliographic Citation
Alexandra Huneeus, The Canon of Nature Rights, in Global Canons in an Age of Contestation: Debating Foundational Texts of Constitutional Democracy and Human Rights (Sujit Choudhry, Michaela Hailbronner & Mattias Kumm eds., 2024).
