Summary: | Rights of Nature (RoN) approaches as a tool to protect ecosystems and nature is gaining growing
attention in academic and societal debates. Despite this new momentum, theoretical work is increasingly pointing
out major problems and uncertainties related to such approaches. Inspired by this critical work, the paper considers
RoN as a type of intervention that competes with those of other actors for the control of, and decision-making
power over, natural resources. To understand the implications of such interventions, it is necessary to investigate
how they shape, and are shaped by, local context. To that end, we look at Rights of Rivers (RoR) cases in New
Zealand, Colombia and India. Investigating these well-researched cases, we aim to tease out the material and
discursive contestations that emerge from the establishment and implementation of RoR interventions. We then
propose an analytical approach that has emerged from our fieldwork and which can be useful in identifying the
conflicts and contestations underpinning RoR.
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