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3d ago

Robert Macfarlane’s New Book Explores Legal and Cultural Shifts in Defining Rivers as Living Entities

Is a River Alive? examines global efforts to grant rivers legal personhood and highlights the ongoing threats to major river systems in Ecuador, India, and Canada.

‘We’ve forgotten that rivers are life-givers. We’ve redefined them as a resource. They carry our waste away, provide power. The fact that not a single river in the UK is in good health is proof that the stories we’ve been telling are inaccurate,’ Macfarlane says. (Photo: Bryan Appleyard)
Yuvan Aves and Robert Macfarlane (Bijal Vachharajani)
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Overview

  • Robert Macfarlane’s book, Is a River Alive?, delves into the philosophical and legal recognition of rivers as living entities through case studies in Ecuador, India, and Canada.
  • The book spotlights global precedents, including Ecuador’s 2008 constitutional Rights of Nature, New Zealand’s 2017 recognition of the Whanganui River, and Canada’s 2021 personhood status for Quebec’s Magpie River (Mutehekau Shipu).
  • Macfarlane critiques anthropocentric legal systems, emphasizing the need for cultural and political shifts to accompany symbolic legal recognition of rivers.
  • The Rio Los Cedros in Ecuador faces threats from gold mining, while Chennai’s waterways suffer from severe pollution and encroachment, underscoring the gap between legal protections and ecological realities.
  • The movement draws on indigenous worldviews, such as those of the Innu people in Quebec, to challenge centuries-old legal traditions that treat rivers as mere resources.