This research project explores the potential of the rights of nature, considering it from an interdisciplinary perspective, where people from various disciplines share their knowledge to help facilitate a more balanced relationship between humans and nature to address the ecological crisis. Our research highlights that despite its promising role to offer a truly transformative approach to our relationship with the environment, academic research and funding have yet to fully engage with this emerging field of research. Research projects still have largely fragmented and disciplinary approaches despite the tasks that require transcending the disciplines. Although new research projects have begun to explore the anthropological and political aspects of RoN focusing on specific case studies outside of Europe, further transdisciplinary research integrating environmental and social sciences is needed particularly to understand to what extent RoN can be useful and operationalised in the European context.
The report was written as part of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Where Next? Scoping Future Arts and Humanities Led Research.