Workshop 8: Nature's Rights 1: Who Has The Right?

1. Opening Image: Awe & Wonder

2. Check-in 

3. Be Here Now Exercise

4. Designated Photographer 

Recap & Overview | 2 mins

Briefly reconnect the Ambassadors to their journey so far. Ask: "Who can remember what we explored together last week?"

Take a few quick responses. 

Say: “Last week, we explored the importance of fungi and mycelial networks to the Web of Life, and what nature’s networks can teach us about connection, community, and caring. This week, we’ll take the idea of caring for others a step further by exploring rights:

• What are human rights?

• Why do human rights exist

• Nature should have rights too.”

Part 1: How Would You Feel? | 3 mins

Say: “I’m going to give you three situations. Imagine each one is happening to you and think about how you would feel.”

Ask: “How would you feel if you came home from school and discovered that someone had been throwing their rubbish on your bedroom floor, just because they couldn’t bother to throw it in the bin?”

Take one or two quick responses.

“How would you feel if someone carved their name into your front door without asking you?”

Take one or two quick responses.

“How would you feel if you came home one day and discovered that people had had a BBQ in your living room? They’d moved things around, left burn marks on your floor, damaged some of your belongings and left all their mess behind.”

Take one or two quick responses.

Ask: “So, how do you think forests, rivers and other parts of nature might feel when people do things like this to them?”

Allow a few responses.

Say: “Now some people believe that the changes we are seeing in the natural world are one way nature is showing us that we need to change our behaviour.”

“But nature doesn’t have the same rights and legal protections that humans do. A river or a forest can’t stand up for itself in court. So, who speaks up for nature, and who protects it?”

Say: “That is one of the big questions we’re going to explore today.”

Part 2: From Protection to Rights | 2 mins

Ask: “What do you think a right is?” Take two or three responses.

Explain: “ Rights and laws can get quite complicated, so we're going to make this really simple. Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that belong to everyone. Freedoms are about the things we should be free to do, think, or believe, as long as they don’t harm other people. Rights help protect the things we should all be able to have,

“For example, we have:

• The right to life

• The right to education

• The right to be treated fairly and with care

• The freedom to have our own thoughts and beliefs

• The right to play and rest, 

• The right to have your views heard about things that affect you

• The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.”

• The right to be protected from harm.”

Say: “Here in England, we also have laws that protect nature, including wildlife, habitats, and rivers.”

“But protecting nature isn't quite the same as saying nature itself has rights.”

“So here's today's big question: If people have rights, should nature have rights too?”

Part 3: Human Rights → River Rights | 5 mins

VOTE WITH YOUR FEET

Organise the room so the Ambassadors can clearly see where to stand for: AGREE | UNSURE | DISAGREE

Explain that you will read out a series of statements.

Say: “Your challenge is to decide whether each statement could also be true of a river. Move to Agree, Unsure or Disagree depending on what you think.”

“You might disagree with your classmates, and that's absolutely fine. What's important is being able to explain why you think what you think, and being willing to listen to other people's ideas.”

“There aren't always simple right or wrong answers. Be curious, think for yourself, and be ready to explain your thinking.”

Share on a slide the following statements. Try and get a bit of a healthy debate going.

Do you feel a river:…

• Can be harmed?

• Supports life?

• Needs to be clean and healthy?

• Changes over time?

• Is part of a community?

• Is affected by other people's actions?

• Others are dependent on it?

• Communicates?

FACILITATOR NOTE

For each statement, keep them moving fairly quickly, then pause on the ones that create the most interesting disagreement. That is where the juicy thinking will happen.

ON “COMMUNICATES”

“Communicates” is deliberately included to encourage philosophical and cultural discussion. Some Ambassadors may argue that a river cannot communicate because it cannot speak. Others may think about sound, movement, changes in water, what its condition tells us, or different cultural and spiritual understandings of communication.

There is no answer that the Facilitators need to establish.

If useful, when groups share back, ask:

• “Does communication always have to involve words?”

• “Could different people understand communication differently?”

SHARE BACK | 2 mins

Then: “Did anyone hear somebody else's idea and think, ‘I hadn't thought about it like that’?”

Message to land: “We've all been thinking about the same river, but we haven't necessarily seen it in the same way. 

Part 4: Meet the Whanganui River | 4 MINS

Introducing the Whanganui River case study.

Say: “We’re going to meet a community that has fought for generations to protect a river that is deeply important to them.”

Show an image of the Whanganui River.

Ask: “Where in the world do you think this is?”

Take a few brief responses.

Then reveal: “Aotearoa New Zealand.”

Return to the image.

Say: “This is the Whanganui River.  (fah-ng-ah-NOO-ee) For generations, the Māori communities connected to this river have understood humans and the river as deeply interconnected.”

“For these communities, the river is much more than something people use. It is part of their identity (who they are and how they see themselves), their ancestry (their connection to the people who came before them), and their community (the people they live alongside and are connected to today).”

Share the traditional expression: “I am the river and the river is me.”

Ask: “What does that remind you of?”

Draw out connections to the Web of Life and, where appropriate, Ubuntu.

Continue: “For Whanganui Iwi, the wellbeing of the people and the wellbeing of the river are deeply connected. They wanted the river to be recognised as a whole, from its source in the mountains all the way to the sea.”

For well over 100 years, they fought for their relationship with the river to be recognised. Then, in 2017, a law was passed recognising the Whanganui River and its wider living system as a legal person.”

“Does that mean the river became a human being?”

“No! The river can’t vote or go to school." 

Explain: We're simplifying this because the law is complicated, but it basically means the river has its own legal identity. It means the law recognises that the river has rights and should be protected. If people or businesses damage the river, others can speak up and take legal action to protect it.” 

“However, not everyone agreed with this decision. Some people worried that giving the river legal rights would make it harder to farm, build roads and bridges, or develop businesses, ...but we will come back to this.”

Ask: “Do you think rivers should be given special legal rights and protections?”

Invite a quick initial vote by feet: YES | UNSURE | NO

Say: “Remember where you stand. We’re going to come back to this.

Part 5: This is Happening Around the World | 4 mins

Say: “The Whanganui River isn't the only example. People around the world are exploring different ways of giving nature greater recognition and protection.”

SHOW ONE VISUAL SLIDE  🌍

🇳🇿 Aotearoa (New Zealand)
The Whanganui River has legal personhood.

🇪🇨 Ecuador
Rights of Nature are recognised in the country's constitution.

🇨🇦 Canada
An Indigenous community and local government have recognised rights for the Magpie River.

🇬🇧 England
Closer to home, people connected to the River Ouse in Sussex are campaigning for Rights of River recognition.

🐋 Pacific
Indigenous leaders have made a declaration calling for whales to be recognised as legal persons.

Say: “We're simplifying these examples. They don't all have the same meaning or power in law, but they all raise a similar question: Could recognising nature differently change the way we protect it?”

Do not discuss every example. Allow one or two immediate observations before moving into the reflection and close.

Embed the Learning | 2 mins

Say: “We've explored a pretty big question today: If people have rights, should nature have rights too? You don't need to leave this workshop with a definite answer. What's important is that you've listened to different perspectives, discovered something new and begun deciding what you think.” 

Link to next week's session: “Today we've asked: Should nature have rights? Next week, we're going to take that question one step further. What happens when people disagree? You'll explore a real case, hear different sides of an argument and have the chance to decide what you think should happen.”

The 3-2-1 Reflection is split into two parts. If you have time, complete both. If not, choose Part 1 or Part 2, based on what you feel will best serve the needs of your group.