Workshop: The Dark Sides of Rights of Nature

​On the 12th and 13th of February, Riccarda Flemmer (Institute of Political Science, UT), Matthias Kramm (Ethics, Philosophy and History of the Life Sciences, UT) and Léonie de Jonge (Institute for Research on Far Right Extremism (IRex), UT), in cooperation with the College of Fellows, UT, invite international researchers to the University of Tübingen to discuss the Dark Sides of Rights of Nature. This event is part of the Global Encounters Workshop Series on "Bridging Knowledges: Thinking with / Learning from the Global South".

This international workshop explores the often-overlooked “dark sides” of Rights of Nature (RoN), bringing critical perspectives from the Global South and North into dialogue. While RoN are frequently celebrated for their transformative potential, the workshop foregrounds growing skepticism about their political, legal, and ideological implications. Key sessions address Nature, Rights, and the Far-Right in Germany and Rights of Nature, Human Rights, and Far-Right Ecologism, examining how legal innovations around nature intersect with nationalist, exclusionary, and authoritarian discourses. Contributions further explore the coloniality of (inter)national law, the racialization of nature, Indigenous critiques, and the appropriation of RoN by states, corporations, and political movements. Under the guiding question Back to nature?, the program also investigates far-right lifestyles, environmental activism, land-use conflicts, and everyday practices in Germany and Europe. Case studies from Latin America and Europe address ecofascism, Indigenous (land) rights , tensions between human and non-human rights, and the academic hype surrounding RoN. The workshop brings together scholars, practitioners, activists, and journalists to critically reassess Rights of Nature within contemporary power relations.