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Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion
The earth and its inhabitants face significant environmental challenges. So far, the existing legal attempts have failed to address these challenges. The development of the last decades shows that the state of the environment has steadily worsened. Therefore, it is essential to explore new approache...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Institute of Marine and Environmental Law
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613291053842432 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Bittermann, Benjamin |
| author2 | Paterson, Alexander |
| author_browse | Bittermann, Benjamin Paterson, Alexander |
| author_facet | Paterson, Alexander Bittermann, Benjamin |
| author_sort | Bittermann, Benjamin |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The earth and its inhabitants face significant environmental challenges. So far, the existing legal attempts have failed to address these challenges. The development of the last decades shows that the state of the environment has steadily worsened. Therefore, it is essential to explore new approaches. The concept of rights of nature offers a new legal perspective for creating a more effective approach to environmental regulation than traditional anthropocentric approaches. Rights of nature form part of a relatively new movement called Earth Jurisprudence which calls for a fundamental rethink of law. The concept of rights of nature requires that nature be accorded its own legal right. In order for rights of nature to be effective, their implementation must consider and overcome several procedural and substantive challenges. This dissertation explains the origins, form and nature of existing domestic rights of nature, and then critically analyses the main procedural and substantive challenges for their effective implementation in domestic legal frameworks. The most crucial procedural constraints are standing and representation of rights of nature whereas the most problematic substantive challenges are to define the scope of the right and to balance rights of nature with other rights. Having unpacked these challenges, the dissertation then explores possible solutions to overcome them. It comes to the conclusion that – amongst others - the key prerequisites for an effective implementation are to establish rights of nature as a constitutional right and to concisely define its content. Finally, the dissertation provides a set of guidelines for effectively implementing rights of nature into a domestic legal regime as well as a proposal for the wording of a rights of nature norm. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/24928 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:48.261Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Institute of Marine and Environmental Law |
| publisherStr | Institute of Marine and Environmental Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/24928 Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion Bittermann, Benjamin Paterson, Alexander Marine and Environmental Law The earth and its inhabitants face significant environmental challenges. So far, the existing legal attempts have failed to address these challenges. The development of the last decades shows that the state of the environment has steadily worsened. Therefore, it is essential to explore new approaches. The concept of rights of nature offers a new legal perspective for creating a more effective approach to environmental regulation than traditional anthropocentric approaches. Rights of nature form part of a relatively new movement called Earth Jurisprudence which calls for a fundamental rethink of law. The concept of rights of nature requires that nature be accorded its own legal right. In order for rights of nature to be effective, their implementation must consider and overcome several procedural and substantive challenges. This dissertation explains the origins, form and nature of existing domestic rights of nature, and then critically analyses the main procedural and substantive challenges for their effective implementation in domestic legal frameworks. The most crucial procedural constraints are standing and representation of rights of nature whereas the most problematic substantive challenges are to define the scope of the right and to balance rights of nature with other rights. Having unpacked these challenges, the dissertation then explores possible solutions to overcome them. It comes to the conclusion that – amongst others - the key prerequisites for an effective implementation are to establish rights of nature as a constitutional right and to concisely define its content. Finally, the dissertation provides a set of guidelines for effectively implementing rights of nature into a domestic legal regime as well as a proposal for the wording of a rights of nature norm. 2017-08-23T12:50:18Z 2017-08-23T12:50:18Z 2017 Master Thesis Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24928 eng application/pdf Institute of Marine and Environmental Law Faculty of Law University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Marine and Environmental Law Bittermann, Benjamin Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion |
| title_full | Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion |
| title_fullStr | Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion |
| title_short | Providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature: a critical discussion |
| title_sort | providing for the effective domestic implementation of rights of nature a critical discussion |
| topic | Marine and Environmental Law |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24928 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bittermannbenjamin providingfortheeffectivedomesticimplementationofrightsofnatureacriticaldiscussion |