Abstract
In this text I investigate the increasing usage of the Rights of Nature to approach the task of Stewardship for the Earth. The Ecuadorian constitution of 2008 introduces the indigenous concept of Pachamama and interpretes nature as a subject of rights. Reflecting the two 2017 cases of the Whanganui River (New Zealand) and the Gangotri and Yamunotri Glaciers (India), my main argument is that, although the language of individual rights relies on modern subjectivity as well as the constitutionalism of the secular nation state, it is obviously seen as a trans-cultural tool to justify Human Stewardship over the Earth in the Age of Anthropocene. I argue that the new Rights of Nature debate “provides” a straightforward justification of the Stewardship for the Earth and it includes two moments aimed to transcend European Modernity. The Rights Approach justifies obligations towards nature beyond human interests and it appeals to indigenous knowledge as an alternative sphere of argumentation. The relation of this endevor to the Anthropocene is twofold: The indigenous worldviews can now be translated into Rights of Nature because of the two core items of the Anthropocene that are gaining more and more acceptance: the idea of the Earth as a system and of history as a non-linear process. The scientific description of the Earth system offered by the Anthropocene supports holistic narratives of the Rights of Nature and facilitates the recognition of non-Western worldviews. At the same time the Rights of Nature help to clarify the normative claims implicit in the Anthropocene because the integrity of natural items and processes is presented as the explicit reason for a responsible human stewardship towards the Earth.
Highlights
My claim is that the Rights of Nature might be a useful tool to frame human stewardship in the Anthropocene, on the basis that giving rights to entities that previously were considered as mere objects is the most powerful normative tool of Western modernity
I argue that the Rights of Nature present a particular position of agricultural and environmental ethics that sets limits to human agency and justifies an ethos of partnership with the planet all the while recognizing the enormous potential of humanity to alter it
I argue that the growing acceptance of the Rights of Nature is implicitly fostered by the Anthropocene
Summary
It’s not that we’ve changed our worldview, but people are catching up to seeing things the way that we see them (Māori Politician Adrian Rurahwe). I investigate three cases where these indigenous worldviews are used to justify a Rights of Nature approach. My claim is that the Rights of Nature might be a useful tool to frame human stewardship in the Anthropocene, on the basis that giving rights to entities that previously were considered as mere objects is the most powerful normative tool of Western modernity. The concept of right is the strongest language for questioning the fundamental asymmetry of the human relationship to planet earth. I argue that the Rights of Nature present a particular position of agricultural and environmental ethics that sets limits to human agency and justifies an ethos of partnership with the planet all the while recognizing the enormous potential of humanity to alter it. Part of my argument is that this surprising collage of modernity based rights language and indigenous beliefs is obviously not seen
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