Contemplating Rights of Nature in Sweden : Democratic Legitimacy, Conflict, and Centralization of Power
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The recognition of nature as a legal rightsholder has become one means by which people around the world have sought to pursue ecocentric sustainable development strategies. We examine perceptions in Sweden of how the prospective recognition of nature as a rights-bearing legal subject may nonetheless conflict with the objectives identified in the U.N.’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda for “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.” Our analysis is based on interviews with individuals whose work involves the protection of the environment or the use of its resources. The article demonstrates how concerns about the harm to democratic systems are built upon several interlocking assumptions regarding human-nature relationships, the limits of human knowledge about nature, and the proliferation of conflict engendered by recognition of nature’s rights.
Authors: Epstein, Seth, Andersen, Anton
Institutions: Uppsala University, Johns Hopkins University Press
Language: English
Topic: Environmental law and policy
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6980750792