The rights of nature turn

The world is changing... Natural entities in every corner of the globe are transforming their status and gaining recognition for their rights. 

Through human voices and the efforts of fragile collectives, lakes, forests, rivers, valleys, seas and animal and plant species are becoming ‘subjects’... 

On the 16^th of November 2024, in Nantes, a public hearing will happen. People will come and hear the stories of the Whanganui River in New Zealand, Lake Erié in the United States, the Atrato River in Colombia and the Mar Menor lagoon in Spain, all of which have fought to become ‘legal persons’ in recent years...

On 16 November, from 11am to 7pm, the project led by writer, researcher and artist Camille de Toledo will echo these metamorphoses. Stories of hope that herald a transformation of our societies and invite us to listen to the interests, values and needs of all entities on earth...

From 11am : The Assembly of the Voices of Nature...

... Voices from around the world, live, across time zones and languages, from New Zealand to Latin America... tell the stories of the Whanganui River, Lake Erie, the Atrato River... and more broadly tell the story of this cultural and legal turning point. 

With Tisch O'Dell and Chad Nicholson from the United States, Rory Smith from New Zealand, July Tenorio and Estefanía Pavón from Latin America... and the many voices in Europe fighting to defend their ecosystems. 

From 4pm : The case of the ‘Mar Menor’, the story of a lagoon...

The Mar Menor, a lagoon in southern Spain threatened by numerous industries, is the first ecosystem in Europe to have been granted ‘non-human legal personhood’ by a law passed in 2021. How did this happen? What is the history of this lagoon and the law that made it a ‘subject of law’? What can we learn from it? 

With Teresa Vincente, professor of philosophy, the driving force behind the popular initiative for the Mar Menor, and Eduardo Salazar, lawyer, professor of public law and the human voice of the Mar Menor. 

6.30pm : Final performance in the form of a meditation...

Following his practice of ‘transformative meditations’, Camille de Toledo will propose a narrative - snippets of thoughts, reflections, stories - to give shape to this world to come and propose a path towards an international of rivers and other elements of nature...