We have become used to thinking of rivers as resources. We seldom ask what a river might need from us. Legal scholar César Rodríguez-Garavito asks what changes when rivers, forests and ecosystems are recognised not as property, but as living entities with rights of their own. His work develops legal frameworks for Rights of Nature. But changing the law is only part of the work. The law alone cannot change how people relate to the rivers, mountains or forests they live alongside. Emergence Trust supports a collaboration between César and Robert Macfarlane, author of Is a River Alive? Together, they are working with emerging Rights of Rivers initiatives in the UK and developing RiverSongs, a cultural practice for connecting people with their rivers.

We have become used to thinking of rivers as resources. We seldom ask what a river might need from us. Legal scholar César Rodríguez-Garavito asks what changes when rivers, forests and ecosystems are recognised not as property, but as living entities with rights of their own. His work develops legal frameworks for Rights of Nature. But changing the law is only part of the work. The law alone cannot change how people relate to the rivers, mountains or forests they live alongside. Emergence Trust supports a collaboration between César and Robert Macfarlane, author of Is a River Alive? Together, they are working with emerging Rights of Rivers initiatives in the UK and developing RiverSongs, a cultural practice for connecting people with their rivers.

Another, more contested route to encountering rivers as living entities is through AI. The technology seems at odds with ecological life – it consumes energy, water and minerals, and reduces complexity to data and simple answers. Relational thinker Vanessa Andreotti asks if AI could work differently. With Danilo Olivaz, an AI engineer and bioregional educator in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, she is testing a relational AI system. Their ‘river avatar’ combines bio-sensor readings with local stories and continuous observations of the river. Rather than giving the river a human voice, they are testing if AI can change how people encounter the river as a living, interconnected system. Emergence supports Danilo testing the avatar with river communities and bioregional governance groups.

We’ve become used to thinking of rivers as resources, but what if a river was understood as a living entity with interests of its own? Legal scholar César Rodríguez-Garavito explores that question through Rights of Nature, which gives rivers, forests and ecosystems legal recognition beyond their value to people. For César, law is just one way into a wider cultural shift in how people relate to the living world. Emergence supports his collaboration with Robert Macfarlane, author of Is a River Alive?. Together they are working with emerging Rights of Rivers initiatives in the UK and developing RiverSongs, exploring how music can give people another way to encounter rivers as living presences.