Multispecies Collective Reading Group

About

All our welcome at the Multispecies Collective Reading Group where we discuss some of the most topical issues concerning multispecies flourishing.

Our reading group is our flagship gathering where our members meet our network to discuss texts that inspire us to think toward better futures.

You are welcome to join us in person or online.

Theme

Rights of Nature Overtaking Animal Rights.

Texts

This month’s theme will be discussed through engagement with two texts chosen by the collective. Bernet Kempers’ article examines the relationship between rights of nature and animal rights, asking what it means for individual animals when legal protection is extended to ecosystems, rivers, and other natural entities. Tănăsescu’s work critically explores rights of nature, legal personality, and their relationship with Indigenous philosophies, inviting us to think carefully about how these ideas are translated into legal frameworks and whether legal personhood adequately captures the relationships they seek to protect. Together, the readings open up important questions about who or what law recognises as a rights-holder, the relationship between individual and ecological justice, and the possibilities and limitations of extending legal rights beyond the human.

• Bernet Kempers, Eva (2026).If Rivers Have Rights, Do Fish Have Rights Too? Examining the Relationship Between Rights of Nature and Animal Rights. Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health (LEOH), Special Issue on Rethinking Ecosphere and Biojustice: Legal Personality and Legal Rights Beyond the Human, 4-22. DOI:10.58590/leoh.2026.005

• Tănăsescu, M. (2020). Rights of Nature, Legal Personality, and Indigenous Philosophies. Transnational Environmental Law, 9(3), 429–453. doi:10.1017/S2047102520000217

You are very welcome to join us whether you are able to read both texts, just one of them, or none at all!