PLURIVERSUM 2024: Inspirations for a Just Future - Rights of Nature with the Mar Menor and Professor Teresa Vicente

Written by: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Riccarda Flemmer
With collaboration from:
Lilian Eichorst - Research Assistant
Zahid Zamudio - Research Assistant
Micha Bröckling - Doctoral Student and Research Assistant

Moderated by: Alberto Acosta and Sandra Weiss
Presentation by: Prof. Teresa Vicente
Musical Performance: Grupo Sal
Artistic Visuals: Johannes Keitel

The Derniere of the Pluriversum tour 2024
On October 16, 2024, Pluriversum 2024 drew a full audience at the University of Tübingen’s Pfleghofsaal, inviting attendees into a profound experience of dialogue, music, and visual art that celebrated the global Rights of Nature movement and its arrival in Europe. The multimedia event explored how communities worldwide are adopting new frameworks to recognize nature as a legal entity, emphasizing the importance of these rights as a response to the mounting climate crisis.

Moderator Alberto Acosta, former President of the Ecuadorian Constitutional Assembly 2007 and 2008 which recognised the Rights of Nature, along with journalist, translator, and ex-diplomat Sandra Weiss gave stage to Special guest Professor Teresa Vicente, lawyer, professor and activist from the University of Murcia in Spain who received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, the “Green Nobel Prize”, in 2024. Prof. Vicente was the leading campaigner in the fight to bestow legal personhood rights to the Murcian lagoon ‘Mar Menor’ in 2022 as Europe’s first successful “Rights of Nature” case. Visual artist Johannes Keitel created a collage of images from street art, activism and nature in his video-mapping projections that enriched the event weaving together performances, portraits, videos, photos, graphics, and quotes into a dynamic and immersive visual pluriverse. The Sextett Grupo Sal carried the audience through the evening blending the academic and activist interventions with Latin American and African music of famous composers, such Cape Verdean Cesária Évora, and their own creations providing an emotional and powerful soundtrack.

Spain’s Mar Menor: A Historic Victory for the Rights of Nature
Prof. Vicente shared the compelling story of Spain’s Mar Menor, the first natural entity in Europe to gain legal rights, thanks to the tireless efforts of local citizens and activists. Situated in the Murcia region, Mar Menor is Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon and a precious ecosystem that faced severe degradation due to intensive agriculture, mining, livestock activities, and infrastructural expansion. In October 2019, the lagoon was devastated when large masses of dead fish surfaced, a tragic wake-up call that spurred action among Murcia’s citizens.

Prof. Vicente highlighted how this disaster galvanized a massive social movement. Citizens launched a campaign that collected over 640,000 signatures, a remarkable feat that led to the adoption of a groundbreaking legislative initiative in September 2022. This law grants legal rights to Mar Menor, empowering residents to defend it in court and oversee its well-being through a representative commission, including activists, citizens, and local authorities.​

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“At the heart of our planet is its ecosystem, not humanity.” (Prof. Teresa Vicente, translated by Zahid Zamudio)

This historic achievement was not only a first for Spain but for all of Europe, setting a precedent for recognizing natural entities as rights-bearing subjects. As Prof. Vicente described, the success of Mar Menor exemplifies a transformative model where nature’s rights are directly linked to democratic participation. This law enables any citizen to raise legal concerns on behalf of Mar Menor, placing environmental stewardship at the centre of community and legislative processes. Prof. Vicente’s reflections illustrated a growing awareness that human and ecological well-being are inseparably linked, advocating for similar initiatives across Europe and beyond.

Artistic Reflections and Global Solidarity
The musical performances by Grupo Sal interspersed the discussions with a blend of Latin American and African rhythms, bringing the evening’s themes to life through song. The artistic element continued with Johannes Keitel’s video projections, which visually narrated the pluriversal concept. Images, quotes, and scenes from diverse ecosystems and cultural symbols illustrated a vision of interconnected worldviews, drawing participants into the pluriversal message.
This event reinforced that respecting nature’s rights is not merely a legal shift but a moral imperative that will shape a just and sustainable future. In the closing words of Alberto Acosta on the potentials of Rights of Nature as a movement towards systemic overhaul in our thinking about human-nature relations.

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Rights of Nature is not about isolated systems. We must rather think about Nature as a whole. And that requires a major shift, a civilizational shift. Therefore, it is not only a legal issue, but also an economic, cultural, social, and political issue. What we need is a democracy that conforms to ecology. In this context, the Rights of Nature help because we accept that we are nature, not just part of nature. (Alberto Acosta, paraphrase by Zahid Zamudio)

The event concluded with discussions among Acosta, Weiss, and Vicente, joined by a lively audience, followed by a final musical performance from Grupo Sal, with frontman Fernando Dias Costa’s smooth baritone bringing participants to their feet. The event left attendees inspired, capturing the sense of global solidarity that the Rights of Nature movement fosters.

​I would like to thank the Global Encounters platform, the Chair of ‘Political Struggles in the Global South’ and the Chair of Ethics, History and Theory of the Life Sciences (MNF) of Prof. Dr. Thomas Potthast as well as the German Postcode Lottery, the Weltethos Institut, FAIRStrickt, Terre des Femme, Club Voltaire, xäls and the ESG Tübingen for their kind support.

Funded as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments.