Logo du CGGG Se connecter

The ‘Rights of Rivers’ Movement in Transitioning Water Governance: Global Trends and French Experiences (Loire, Tavignanu)

Salle 3.43
Organisateur·trice(s) du CGGG : 

Séminaire par Yixin Cao, chercheuse post-doctorante à l'Institut Terre & Environnement de Strasbourg (ITES) (UMR 7063), University of Strasbourg / CNRS / ENGEES

Titre :The ‘Rights of Rivers’ Movement in Transitioning Water Governance: Global Trends and French Experiences (Loire, Tavignanu)

Summary: Today's freshwater crisis urgently signals that water governance must transition from anthropocentric to ecocentric approaches. Globally, Indigenous cosmologies that perceive nature as living beings have pioneered the Rights of Nature movement, notably through granting rivers legal rights in Colombia, Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, etc. While some cases enable bottom-up governance and community empowerment, many remain symbolic and weak in implementation, exerting limited influence on entrenched anthropocentric regimes.

In France, similar initiatives have emerged, e.g., the Parlement de Loire (2019) and the Déclaration des Droits du Fleuve Tavignanu in Corsica (2021), seeking to also recognize rivers as living entities.

The Parlement de Loire, centered on an undammed river, reimagines the Loire as a subject rather than an object, fostering dialogue among scientists, stakeholders, and citizens through artistic and participatory methods. The Tavignanu Declaration, initiated by local NGOs to oppose a landfill project and later adopted by the Corsican Assembly, marks France’s first formal recognition of a river’s rights. Despite their innovative nature, both initiatives face challenges in adapting Indigenous-inspired legal and ethical concepts to France’s highly institutionalized water governance system.

This study analyzes how these movements reshape human–non-human relationships and advance post-anthropocentric governance practices, while identifying context-specific opportunities and challenges in France. It is part of Target Project 7 (PC7) within the PEPR program: OneWater – Eau Bien Commun.