Watch: The Rights of Nature on the Island of Ireland
Revisit this brown bag seminar presented by Dr Rachel Killean (Senior Lecturer, Sydney Law School) addressing the research gap in the rights of nature on the Island of Ireland. The seminar was held at the Law School on Friday 5 May 2023.
Watch the recording
Background
In June 2021 Derry City and Strabane District Council in Northern Ireland adopted a pioneering motion on the ‘rights of nature.’ Within days, a similar motion was adopted by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, followed by Donegal County Council in the Republic of Ireland in December 2021. To date, little research has been conducted into the nascent rights of nature movement on the island of Ireland. Existing analyses on rights of nature initiatives in Europe are generally quite limited, with few empirical studies to date. Yet, the movement across the island of Ireland raises important questions about the drivers (e.g., philosophical, cultural, political, legal) to pursuing rights of nature, as well as the implications of such initiatives. This paper contributes to addressing this gap, exploring these themes through an analysis of interviews with key stakeholders conducted across the island in June 2022.
About Dr Rachel Killean
Dr Rachel Killean is a Senior Lecturer at Sydney Law School and a member of the Sydney Institute of Criminology, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, and the Sydney Environment Institute. She is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Queen’s University Belfast School of Law. Dr Killean’s research centres responses to violence, with a focus on transitional justice, victims’ rights, sexual and gender-based violence, and harms perpetrated against the natural world. Dr Killean has a longstanding research interest in Cambodia, and her previous research projects have included collaborations with the Centre for the Study of Humanitarian Law in the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh, the Bophana Audio Visual Centre, and the Documentation Centre of Cambodia. Her research has been funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, the UK Global Challenges Research Fund, and the British Academy, amongst others.