New publication: Support for rights of nature in the EU

Epstein, Y., López-Bao, J.V. & Bruskotter J. 2024. Most EU Residents Support Rights of Nature Laws. Nordic Environmental Law Journal (special issue)

Rights of nature laws have been enacted in a growing number of countries, but the extent to which they are sup- ported by public opinion has been unclear. We report the results of a survey in which over 11,000 participants across the EU were asked ‘Would you support or oppose policy that would give legal rights to forests or rivers – such as the right to exist free from destruction or pollution’. Most respondents said they would support such a policy: 62% would support, 28% were neutral or not sure, and 10% were opposed. We discuss some implica- tions and limitations of the survey. The main implications are first, that majority support among respondents indicates that further rights of nature laws or policies could be enacted in the EU, and second, that a majority of respondents (68%) fell outside the most extreme categories (i.e., strongly support, strongly oppose) suggests there is also opportunity for advocates or opponents of rights of nature laws to shift public opinion. The main limitations are that the survey does not indicate what types of rights of nature laws respondents preferred, what types of trade-offs respondents would accept, that respondents may have limited knowledge or understanding of rights of nature, and that limited inferences can be drawn about whether public support for rights of nature will in fact lead to policy changes. More complex studies are needed to make more precise inferences.

Link to the full issue: https://nordiskmiljoratt.se/onewebmedia/NMT2024spec_inlaga_publicering.pdf