Itchen Rising- Exploring the rights of nature and the personhood of a river
- urbanwild8
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Lately, the Friends of Itchen Estuary have been exploring the idea of the 'rights of nature'. The campaigning group have been pushing back against many of the challenges that the river has been facing - namely, the amount of pollution and effluent that enters the river, caused by industry overexploitation. By conducting water testing and monitoring what planning applications affect the River Itchen and its subsidiaries, the group keeps a keen eye on how the river quality is suffering as a result, and how this impacts the animals and other living beings that rely on the river.
Following on from the recent screening of 'I Am The River, The River Is Me' that explored the successful achievement of conferring personhood and legal rights to the Whanganui River in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Friends of Itchen Estuary alongside SNPC convened a community discussion to explore the possibility of a River Rights Charter for the River Itchen.
 The community discussion was held on on the 23rd September in St Denys Church Hall (pictured) People from all over the city came to explore the question 'When you think about the River Itchen what do you feel and what is it that makes you feel that way?' in a World Café format. Lively, engaging and passionate conversations were shared, connections made and stories told. Friends of Itchen Estuary are busy compiling the key themes that have come out of the evening which will be shared soon.  Picture is of one of the breakout discussion groups at the Community Discussion.  Some of the notes and themes that the residents explored together.  |
To see more photos, go to this blog post: Itchen Rising - Thank Yous and Next Steps.
To keep up with what Friends of Itchen Estuary do, you can subscribe to their mailing list, or follow them on Facebook.
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