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The Rights of the River: Water, Culture and Ecological Justice

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Conservation

Abstract

In response to pressure from Māori iwis (tribes), the New Zealand Government announced in 2017 that the Whanganui River had been granted the legal status of a living entity. This alternate cultural view has energised a lively international debate about of what constitutes ‘living kinds’ and ‘personhood’. This chapter asks whether non-human species, rivers and whole ecosystems should be considered in these terms. And, if so, should they have concomitant legal rights?

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Strang, V. (2020). The Rights of the River: Water, Culture and Ecological Justice. In: Kopnina, H., Washington, H. (eds) Conservation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13905-6_8

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