Description
The rights of nature, while mostly recognised in indigenous communities and Latin American countries, are no longer an exotic concept in Ireland. In 2021, the three local councils on the island of Ireland—Donegal, Derry City and Strabane District, and Fermanagh and Omagh—consecutively passed a resolution to recognise nature as the subject of rights, and hence development plans, planning decisions, and other relevant environmental frameworks. The rights of nature gained heightened attention in 2023 when the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss in the South included a referendum on the rights of nature as part of its constitutional reform. Although the recognition of the rights of nature is essentially a political process, its implications have been predominantly explored from legal perspectives (i.e. what are the legal obligations for public authorities when nature is considered a rights-holder?). While reflecting on the current situation of the rights of nature in Ireland under shifting political and economic conditions, this paper seeks to explore how the language of rights, which has originated from human-centric and universal principles, has empowered political actors, reconfigured policy processes, and stimulated political negligence and resistance against the rights of nature. Specifically, the following topics are addressed: the construction of ‘nature’ in the rights of nature campaigns in Ireland, the empowerment of new political actors and bonds (i.e. ‘ecological solidarity’), and the dilemmas and challenges of such rights-based approaches to nature in the Irish context and their implications for peace.
