On Wednesday, 17 November 2021 at 1pm EST/6pm GMT/7pm CET/8pm CAT, Craig Kauffman and Pamela Martin will discuss their new book, The Politics of Rights of Nature: Strategies for Building a More Sustainable Future, with discussant Professor James May.
Please register in advance for the book launch here.
About the Book:
With the window of opportunity to take meaningful action on climate change and mass extinction closing, a growing number of communities, organizations, and governments around the world are calling for Rights of Nature (RoN) to be legally recognized. RoN advocates are creating new laws that recognize natural ecosystems as subjects with inherent rights, and appealing to courts to protect those rights. Going beyond theory and philosophy, in this book Craig Kauffman and Pamela Martin analyze the politics behind the creation and implementation of these laws, as well as the effects of the laws on the politics of sustainable development. Kauffman and Martin tell how community activists, lawyers, judges, scientists, government leaders, and ordinary citizens have formed a global movement to advance RoN as a solution to the environmental crises facing the planet. They compare successful and failed attempts to implement RoN at various levels of government in six countries—Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, India, New Zealand, and the United States—asking why these laws emerged and proliferated in the mid-2000s, why they construct RoN differently, and why some efforts at implementation are more successful than others. As they analyze efforts to use RoN as a tool for constructing less anthropocentric sustainable development, capable of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goal of living “in harmony with Nature,” Kauffman and Martin show how RoN jurisprudence evolves through experimentation and reshapes the debates surrounding sustainable development.
The book is published open access and an electronic version is available at MIT Press Direct.
About the Authors:
Craig Kauffman is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon. His research focuses on environmental politics, ecological law, and sustainable development. Kauffman is also an active member of the United Nations Knowledge Network on Harmony with Nature. He is the author of two books and numerous articles on ecological law, environmental politics, and sustainable development. Kauffman is currently leading a project to create the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor, an interactive, online platform that tracks ecological law initiatives globally and provides related information and resources for researchers, activists, lawyers, and policymakers, funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Pamela Martin is a Professor of Politics at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. Martin was awarded the university Distinguished Teacher Scholar and was a Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador, focusing on environmental governance of the Amazon. She has published multiple books and numerous articles on Global Environmental Politics. Martin is currently the Executive Director of the United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development in Georgetown, SC.