Riverine Rights: Exploring the Currents and Consequences of Legal Innovations on the Rights of Rivers

Timeframe: 01.07.2020 – 31.12.2023

Funding sourceNorges forskningsråd

Project owner: OsloMet, Faculty of Education and International Studies

Project manager: Axel Borchgrevink

Partner institutions: Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU – Ås, Norway), Tata Institute of Social Sciences – Hyderabad Campus (Hyderabad, India), University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand), Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana (Medellin, Colombia), University of Bergen (UiB – Bergen, Norway)


Through the study of legal cases and their aftermath in three countries – Colombia, India and New Zealand – the project explores the implications of recent court rulings recognizing rivers as subjects or persons.

The research will create new, relevant and critical knowledge about an apparent innovative form of environmental protection, and with particular attention to the following:

a) the mechanisms established for enforcing rivers protection for different user groups;

b) the implications for existing legal frameworks and debates on the rights of nature;

c) the insights these cases may offer for current debates about how to understand and govern the relationship between society and the natural world.

For more information about the project, see here.