Nature's rights are human rights: revitalizing Indigenous land stewardship through legal personhood
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Date
2023-03-20
Authors
Cherpako, Amy
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Abstract
Indigenous peoples have held rich, complex knowledges on environmental sustainability and the interrelatedness of humans and the natural world since time immemorial. However, this expertise continues to be largely excluded within domestic and international environmental decision-making. In recent years, a strategy has emerged which provides opportunity for Indigenous worldviews about the environment to be strengthened within a legal context. Legal personhood involves assigning legal rights and protections to natural entities, like rivers. This concept challenges current human rights discourse to include Indigenous knowledges on how the wellbeing of the environment and human beings is not only linked but mutually dependent.
This paper provides connections from human rights foundations, theory, and practice to the legal personhood method, as researched during my practicum at Wa Ni Ska Tan. Finally, this paper indicates the potential for the legal personhood method to revitalize Indigenous land stewardship and autonomy in Canada, and advocates for the necessity of further research, education, and awareness on this process.
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environmental personhood, legal personhood, rights of nature, personification of nature