Developing a Kincentric Rights Framework to Address Brazil's River Crisis
About
This project will explore (1) whether recent efforts to grant legal rights to rivers are an effective way to address Brazil’s river crisis and (2) to what extent centuries-old kin-centric traditions in Brazil, embraced by indigenous and other riverine communities, have shaped these recent advocacy efforts for river rights in Brazil.
Brazil’s large rivers and ecosystems, not least the Amazon River Basin, are fundamental in regulating the South American and global climate. But Brazil’s rivers are under threat. Devastating droughts and rivers with record-low water levels are the ‘new normal’. Many river basins are heavily polluted by toxic mining activities and industrial agriculture, which have resulted in devastating ecological disasters, destroying indigenous and riverine communities’ livelihoods, wrecking ecosystems and pushing many animal species closer to extinction. A growing body of literature regards the modern understanding of rivers as commodities to be exploited for material gain as the root of this river crisis.
Since 2018, the Brazilian Rights of Nature (RoN) movement has secured legal rights for several rivers and water bodies across Brazil. The global RoN movement advocates for the recognition of non-human beings and parts of nature (rivers, forests and mountains) as legal persons. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the project will critically explore to what extent the RoN movement can confront the status quo view of rivers as commodities and establish a novel paradigm inspired by kinship practices. A kin-centric understanding sees rivers as kin-like persons and part of an ecological family intimately intertwined with our own health and wellbeing. This kin-centric understanding of rivers can inspire new river governance models to improve legal and political protections for rivers, their ecosystems and riverine communities in Brazil and worldwide.
Funding
This four-year project (July 2026 - June 2030) is funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the São Paulo Research Agency (FAPESP).
Contact
Please contact Dr Markus Fraundorfer ([email protected]) for any questions about the project.