The Rights of Nature Toolkit: Protecting Rivers in England and Wales, has been created the Legal Clinic at King’s College London. It is a practical guide designed to help protect rivers and their natural surroundings. It is aimed at lawyers, paralegals, student legal clinics, community activists, and environmental advocates. London Waterkeeper helped develop the Toolkit and it incorporates our way of working.
Rights of Nature (RoN) is the idea that nature has intrinsic rights, similar to human rights. This legal framework values and protects nature for its own sake, rather than for its utility to humans. Countries like Ecuador and New Zealand have already granted legal personhood to natural entities such as rivers and forests.
The toolkit provides practical advice on using existing laws to protect rivers in England and Wales, covering areas such as:
- Gathering information and making information requests
- Submitting complaints and pursuing criminal prosecutions
- Judicial review and environmental planning law
- Human rights claims and public participation
It also discusses the right to a healthy environment as a potential legal pathway to further protect rivers and natural sites.
We recently hosted our first Rights of Nature training for grassroots activists in collaboration with the Legal Clinic at King’s College London. The event was a great success, highlighting the practical use of the toolkit to shift the balance of power and hold authorities accountable. We hope to host more of these events in the future.
Learn More
Read and download the full Rights of Nature Toolkit here.