Literature Review

Everything one wants to sell you is said to be sustainable. But what is sustainability? Is it a value, does it have a price or both? After the official definition appeared in 1987, more than 300 definitions to the concept have appeared. Sustainability emerged in the second half of the twentieth century as a moral value: it is difficult to be unanimous about what it is, but it is often easy to claim that a given action or practice is unsustainable. Values precede ethics. Modern ethics is Kantian that emerged largely as a reaction to the control of religion. Strongly humanistic, Kantian ethics is largely about the present, and for humans. German philosopher Hans Jonas, in the 1970s, claimed for an ‘ethics of responsibility’, concerned with beings who are not on this planet yet: future generations of humans and non-humans. This chapter claims that this kind of ethics is not quite in practice, but there are positive signs of change in this respect. It discusses Environmental Ethics, Rights of Nature and Earth Jurisprudence as early symptoms of the emergence of a new sustainability ethics.

This chapter discusses one of the ‘hard cases’ of nature’s rights: the case of invasive alien species. The question is how to balance the conservation of endangered species with the individual interests of invasive species. In this chapter, some of the recurring contradictions in the rights of nature framework are tackled through the lens of invasive species. Taking the case of the grey squirrel (sciurus carolimensis) as a starting point, the moral and legal issues surrounding the eradication of invasive species are assessed considering the current developments in the literature and case law. It is concluded that, whereas invasive species need to be contained at an early stage, full-fledged eradication programmes are only justifiable when no other alternatives remain as to the containment of invasive species. Since this more moderate approach to the management of invasive species appears already mandatory in the context of the existing regulatory framework, this chapter puts forward that it is also the way forward in the context of future rights of nature manifestations.

In this article, we examine what local well-being means in the contexts of collaborative heritage management and national development in Mexico. Driven by the request of Lacandon Mayas (including the second author) who live in Puerto Bello Metzabok, Chiapas, Mexico, in 2018, we engaged in archeological consolidation and heritage management to promote local tourism and sustainable economic development. This collaboration raised a series of ethical and practical questions of how to engage with the Eurocentric project of development. Addressing these issues has become critical, as the Mexican president's signature infrastructure project, Tren Maya (Maya Train), is designed to promote nationwide development via increased cultural heritage tourism in Chiapas and southern Mexico. Through critical reflection on experiences with Metzabok community members, we address Eurocentrism and colonialism by enacting a Lacandon (i.e., Hach Winik) buen vivir. This form of well-being is relational and communal and creates a common good that includes more-than-humans. Via this critical perspective, we argue that a decolonial project can use the tools of development as an initial step in creating Indigenous well-being.

Earth jurisprudence is a philosophy of law and governance that perceives human beings only as a part of the wider Earth community. It emphasizes the necessity of deviating from the legal frameworks which keep the protection of human interests as its core objective. Today, more than nine jurisdictions around the world have embraced Earth jurisprudential principles through various constitutional, legislative, judicial, and institutional means. In May 2021, Sri Lanka faced one of the worst maritime environmental disasters in its history as “MV X-Press Pearl,” a Singaporean containership, burnt for several days just outside the port of Colombo with tons of hazardous and highly reactive chemicals, bunker oil, and containers carrying plastic pellets aboard. The incident which occurred in shallow waters endowed with high biodiversity caused unprecedented and irreversible damage to the marine environment, species, and resources. It reiterated that environmental disasters affect not only human beings but all other living and nonliving species who share the planet with them. Therefore, it is unequivocal that these nonhuman beings shall be empowered to protect themselves against anthropogenic environmental disasters. This chapter ascertains how Earth jurisprudence can be used to protect the oceans and ocean species in Sri Lanka from anthropogenic maritime disasters and to remedy the damage that they have already sustained. The author utilized the black letter approach to research and international and comparative research methodology to carry out the research. The chapter mainly focuses on Sri Lanka and refers to Ecuador, New Zealand, and India in drawing lessons for law reform. The chapter will provide guidance to protect the Sri Lankan oceans for more than the instrumental values that they hold.

This chapter introduces some of the main concepts and findings of a research study published in 2020 by the European Economic and Social Committee on the introduction of an EU Charter for the Fundamental Rights of Nature in the EU legal order. In the Study the promotion of a paradigm shift was proposed, and new legal concepts were discussed aimed to implement the principles of Earth Jurisprudence within a modern legal context in order to overcome the current failures of EU environmental law and promote a new relationship between humans and Nature. This chapter summarises the main points of the Study and tries to clarify better its main features and proposals.

Atrocity crimes are regarded as the most serious crimes against humankind (United Nations). Using the example of deforestation, this paper will review the benefits, or otherwise, of adding ecocide to the list of atrocity crimes. Ecocide is defined as the mass damage and/or destruction of the natural environment by human behavior. The official definition refers to unlawful or wanton acts that can result in damage that is either ‘severe,’ ‘widespread’ or ‘long-term.’ It is reviewed here in relation to deforestation for animal agriculture. Globally, it is estimated that farmland expansion accounts for 90% of deforestation (Food and Agriculture Organization for the United Nations, 2021). Crop growing and animal grazing are the main drivers of deforestation. The latter accounts for 40% of deforestation (Hussain, 2022). Put simply, large amounts of land are required to feed the billions of nonhuman animals killed each year for human consumption. This clearing of forests for animal agriculture results in increased greenhouse gas emissions which, in turn, has implications for climate change. Following Sharpston (2022), and the Wild Law Project (UK Environmental Law Association, 2009), we consider whether the principles of Earth Jurisprudence (rights for nature), alongside the crime of ecocide, can protect forests from agricultural expansion thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting ecosystems from biodiversity loss.

The Rights of Nature concept as a new approach to rethink and reengage with environmental law calls for a transformation towards an ethos of interconnectedness between humans and nature. This approach gains increasing relevance as planet Earth grapples with pressing environmental challenges, water resources exploitation and declining aquatic ecosystems being one of those. Recognising the rights of nature and transforming the way the environment is governed involves a new understanding on what the law is and what is to be a subject of the law. This paper surveys the current legal landscape of the RoN in the freshwater and marine ecosystem in terms of legal recognition, key actors, governance structure and their implications to contemporary legal environmental paradigms and water governance discourse. Though exploratory, the findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the evolving RoN framework and its implications for water and environmental governance.

In 2008, the new Ecuadorian Constitution became the first legal document to recognize Nature as having rights, legally concretizing Christopher’s Stone momentous 1972 invitation and Thomas Berry and Cormac Cullinan’s call to an Earth Jurisprudence. Over the ensuing decade, rights of Nature Constitutional, legislative and judicial initiatives arose in a growing number of jurisdictions, from Bolivia to India, from New Zealand to Colombia, marking the practical articulation of this novel legal theory as one of the fastest growing legal movements of the 21st century. Over such a relatively brief period of time, three phases can already be identified within the movement: after an initial focus on the acceptance of Nature as a right-holder, a shift occurred toward the identification of said right-holder as a legal person. Since such an identification was far from uncontroversial, and in response to numerous critiques advanced toward the use of categories of personhood inherited from the Roman legal tradition, the movement now inhabits a third phase, in which the focus becomes the creation of a novel category of personhood, tentatively called ‘environmental personhood’. Albeit still protean, the emergence of such a novel category nonetheless represents a fertile terrain for inter-jurisdictional and inter-normative dialogue around climate justice and the ethical obligations of global governance institutions. In a time of global climate-induced social uncertainty, could ‘environmental personhood’ emerge as a novel principle of international law?

This article considers the possibilities and limits of reimagining international development policy by taking the values, practices, and worldviews of Indigenous communities as its starting point. Drawing on ethnographic research in Guatemala, we contrast the development industry’s overwhelming focus on economic growth as the gold standard of well-being with the perspective of Maya-Achí groups, who insist that growth and modernization must not come at the expense of the ecology, food sovereignty, or Indigenous ways of life connected to the land. We argue that the Maya-Achi organizations with whom we collaborate offer a philosophy and practice better attuned to the urgency of the climate crisis than that of the dominant model of development. To bring the international development agenda in line with local climate action, we propose reconceiving Development as Buen Vivir—an Indigenous philosophy of good living. To do so, we propose three lines of action: (1) Increasing Funding for Indigenous-led climate action; (2) Re-conceptualizing development practices to align with Buen Vivir, and (3) Transforming social and economic policies.

This dissertation examines the achievements and limitations of indigenous-inspired state transformation towards a more participatory democracy. It takes as its case study the "process of change" (proceso de cambio) in Bolivia, which has been driven by a broad popular mobilisation since the beginning of the century and later led to a government programme of the Movement for Socialism (MAS, Movimiento al Socialismo) party, which won the 2005 elections. One of the most novel aspects of these transformations has undoubtedly been the inclusion of indigenous thought under the banner of the plurinational state. Plurinationality, understood as a "meta-concept" resulting from a cultural appropriation (Bonfil 1991), brings together a number of other demands, including the decolonisation of society, the establishment of territorial autonomy, the management of natural resources that respects the rights of Mother Earth (Pachamama), and a development model based on coexistence rather than profit maximisation. The plurinational state is understood as an ambitious political project that adapts and integrates a historical claim to territorial defence into a comprehensive model of state reform (Altmann 2016). Four key moments of this transformation are examined: the constitutionalisation of some indigenous proposals in Bolivia (2009) and Ecuador (2008), the struggle for direct representation (2011), the codification and application of the rights of Mother Earth (2010; 2012) and, finally, the awakening of an ecological conscience during the forest fire crisis in the Chiquitanía region of eastern Bolivia (2019). Each of these analyses was originally published separately in different peer-reviewed journals. Taken together, these cases capture the different perspectives and expectations of the relevant actors in this conflictive transformation of the state, and examine their participation in the process of implementation and transformation into public policy. In this context, the implementation of these new principles is understood as an ongoing process without a concrete end point, which involves overcoming numerous obstacles and considering different dimensions of change. This dissertation is guided by three theoretical perspectives (Chapter 1): From the perspective of legal anthropology, it is interested in how indigenous peoples transform the legal foundations of their countries through hybrid legal innovations (Bonilla Maldonado 2018). It also asks about the margins and limits of indigenous social agency, understood as "the capacity of ethnic actors to act on themselves and their environment" (Martínez Neira et al. 2019:3). Finally, it considers the symbolic effects of these changes and the ability of the state to create new narratives and promote certain ideas about indigenous peoples and delegitimise others (Hale 2007; Postero 2017). The study fills a gap in the literature with its aim to capture different dimensions of the practical implementation of new indigenous-inspired legal concepts and its emphasis on the symbolic dimensions.

Exploring ecofeminism and the popular and solidarity economy in Latin America makes visible the participation of women in the rural sector and their contributions to the economy of the state. Women represent 30% of the financial system, contribute to 15% of Gross Domestic Product and receive 49.7% of the credits allocated to the productive sector. In the face of mining extractivism and the encroachment of transnational companies encouraged by neoliberal and extractivist governments, women in Latin America stand against these practices. These companies invade ancestral territories and displace native peoples from their connection with Mother Earth or Pachamama. This chapter uses a descriptive qualitative analysis to examine ecofeminism in Latin America and the struggle of the women of Abya Yala in the care of water and agroecological production. These movements focus on sustaining the popular solidarity economy and the Buen Vivir (Good Living) as forms of resistance to the capitalist and patriarchal system.

In the framework of environmental deterioration marked by the so-called capitalist development and its implications for a serious threat to life, based on the scientific reports on the biosphere, it is essential to encourage humanity to listen attentively to the native communities. Throughout the earth, they struggle from the resistance of their epistemologies and through the ancestral territories and invite the planetary society to be attentive and in co-responsibility with other species and to opt promptly on mitigations of development and its results, such as the so-called climate change.