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Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613911571759104 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Daoussis, Alexia |
| author2 | Hamann, Maike |
| author_browse | Daoussis, Alexia Hamann, Maike |
| author_facet | Hamann, Maike Daoussis, Alexia |
| author_sort | Daoussis, Alexia |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description |
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132122 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:43:40.048Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132122 Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador Daoussis, Alexia Hamann, Maike Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Centre for Sustainability Transitions. Constitutional Law -- Ecuador Environmental law -- South Africa Human rights -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa Sustainable development -- South Africa UCTD Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Daoussis, A. 2025. Mobilising diverse values of nature: insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/6c6e73b6-26b7-485e-8d9e-924e5b2a55f9 ENGLISH SUMMARY: Transformations towards sustainability must meaningfully include, embed, and represent diverse and plural values of nature. As formal rules, rights are value-laden constructs which explicitly and implicitly legitimise values. Thus, rights need to represent and legitimise people’s diverse values of nature in ways that are fair, just, and equal. Despite the excitement about and importance of rights within sustainability discourses, research has not explored how values of nature are mobilised in rights. To address this gap, I performed a scoping review of academic literature to assess the existing state of knowledge on the relationship between values of nature and rights. I identified that there are two different ways in which scholarship has explored the relationship between values of nature and rights. The first is conceptual and engages with ideas about how rights could mobilise values. This literature generally assumes that the meaning of a right as it is written will give rise to the values stated in the right. The second set of literature is empirical and has explored the outcomes and consequences of rights as they have been implemented and used in real-world settings. Key findings from the review are that (1) human rights should be reframed and interpreted in ways that uplift relational values of nature and collective rights; and (2) power dynamics play a prominent role in shaping how values are mobilised in rights. I then performed a thematic analysis on court case judgements from South Africa and Ecuador which centred around human rights and rights of nature. I found that values of nature are mobilised in the arguments that actors make in rights-claiming. In South Africa, claims about irreversible harm to human-nature relationships from oil and gas exploration mobilised relational, instrumental, and intrinsic values of nature. In Ecuador, claims about irreparable damage to nature from mining applied rights of nature and human rights, primarily mobilising intrinsic values. However, the court went a step further to interpret rights of nature and human rights as being fundamentally interrelated and inextricable from one another, expressing relational and instrumental values. Additionally, power dynamics played a role in shaping unfair consultation processes, and inevitable value conflicts, which surfaced in the cases, were unaddressed throughout the decision-making process. The key insights are that power dynamics play a prominent role in determining how values are mobilised in rights. In the literature, power typically mobilises the values of formal rights-holders, leading the literature to argue that the recognitions of rights of diverse actors is key to addressing power imbalances. The thematic analysis highlighted that power dynamics surface in the decision-making process, whereby affected stakeholders were left out of consultation. However, the use of rights to successfully challenge decisions in courts is also a power dynamic. By successfully challenging the lawfulness of decisions, previously disempowered actors use their rights to become empowered. While court cases are crucial arenas for actors to mobilise their values, contest decisions, and redefine the meanings of rights, the value conflicts which prompted the court cases are not resolved. In South Africa, the subsequent appeal of the judgement signals a willingness of the state, and Shell, to continue pursuing an exploration right even though it blatantly conflicts with the values and rights of affected people. In Ecuador, though the judgement has not been appealed and the result was an all-out ban in mining in the Los Cedros Protected Forest, new mining permits are being issued in nearby protected forests. These value conflicts are about how nature should be or not be used, and whom these uses benefit and harm. To ensure that rights can be useful tools for mobilising values, power dynamics in decision-making processes need to be addressed. Additionally, value conflicts, especially those which are irreconcilable and for which there cannot be win-win solutions, need to be surfaced, made explicit, and generatively navigated. Lastly, the intentions that actors have in mobilising their values and agendas through rights, and the corresponding actions and behaviours must be revealed and openly acknowledged. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Masters 2025-05-26T07:58:16Z 2025-05-26T07:58:16Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132122 Stellenbosch University xiv, 129 pages : illustrations, maps application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Constitutional Law -- Ecuador Environmental law -- South Africa Human rights -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa Sustainable development -- South Africa UCTD Daoussis, Alexia Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador |
| title | Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador |
| title_full | Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador |
| title_fullStr | Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador |
| title_short | Mobilising diverse values of nature : insights from court cases on human rights in South Africa and rights of nature in Ecuador |
| title_sort | mobilising diverse values of nature insights from court cases on human rights in south africa and rights of nature in ecuador |
| topic | Constitutional Law -- Ecuador Environmental law -- South Africa Human rights -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa Sustainable development -- South Africa UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132122 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT daoussisalexia mobilisingdiversevaluesofnatureinsightsfromcourtcasesonhumanrightsinsouthafricaandrightsofnatureinecuador |