Save the Blue Heart of Europe - A campaign for the protection of Balkan Rivers
Webinar: Rights of Nature in Europe – Should our rivers have rights too?
Join us for this critical conversation about the potential and challenges of granting legal rights to rivers in Europe.Across Europe, rivers are being dammed, diverted, polluted, and treated as expendable infrastructure — despite existing environmental laws meant to protect them. At the same time, a powerful global movement is gaining momentum: the Rights of Nature, which challenges the idea that nature is merely property and instead recognises rivers and ecosystems as rights-bearing entities with their own legal standing.
While Indigenous communities in the Americas and New Zealand have led the way in securing legal rights for rivers, Europe has been slow to follow. In regions such as the Western Balkans, where rivers are under intense pressure from hydropower and extractive projects, rights-based approaches to river protection are still only beginning to be explored. This raises an urgent question: are Europe’s existing legal tools enough—or is it time to rethink how we defend our rivers?
This webinar brings together leading advocates and legal experts to critically examine whether the Rights of Nature can become a meaningful tool for river protection in Europe. Approaching the topic from legal, philosophical, and political perspectives, speakers will address questions such as:
- How has the Rights of Nature debate evolved globally and within Europe?
- What lessons can European river defenders draw from successful cases elsewhere?
- What does recognising rivers as rights-bearing entities mean in practice?
- What legal or ethical added value could recognising rivers as rights-bearing entities bring to European river protection efforts?
Speakers:
- Marie Toussaint (Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA)
- Annette Mehlhorn (Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology)
- Eduardo Salazar Ortuño (Environmental Lawyer & Associate Professor of Administrative Law)
- Grant Wilson (Executive Director, Earth Law Center)
Discussant: Malgorzata Smolak (Environmental and Energy Lawyer)
Join us for this first, critical conversation and help shape the future of river protection in Europe.
A Zoom link will be sent to registered participants prior to the event.