Are the Rights of Nature the Only Way to Save Lough Neagh?
Northern Ireland's Lough Neagh—the UK and Ireland's largest freshwater lake—recently hit the headlines owing to an ecological crisis caused by the level of pollutants entering its waters. With political attention drawn to the lough, an emerging idea amongst environmental activists—inspired by the gl...
| Publicado en: | Political Quarterly Vol. 96; no. 4; pp. 668 - 677 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Oct2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=190384468&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 190384468 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00323179 PQT jtl: Political Quarterly issn: 00323179 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Oct2025 vid: 96 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 190384468 10.1111/1467-923X.13532 ppf: 668 ppct: 9 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 190384468 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 190384468 tig: atl: Are the Rights of Nature the Only Way to Save Lough Neagh? aug: au: Cooley, Laurence Hill, Elliott su: Northern Ireland Environmental rights Indigenous rights Pollution Environmental degradation Lakes sug: subj: Environmental rights Indigenous rights Pollution Environmental degradation Northern Ireland Lakes keyword: ecological crisis Lough Neagh rights of future generations rights of nature ecological crisis Lough Neagh rights of future generations rights of nature ab: Northern Ireland's Lough Neagh—the UK and Ireland's largest freshwater lake—recently hit the headlines owing to an ecological crisis caused by the level of pollutants entering its waters. With political attention drawn to the lough, an emerging idea amongst environmental activists—inspired by the global 'rights of nature' (RoN) movement—is that it should be granted legally enforceable rights and brought into public ownership. In this article, we assess the prospects of an RoN approach being adopted in Northern Ireland. We highlight how the indigenous and decolonial origins of RoN ideas, alongside links between agricultural interests and political unionism, might prove a barrier to cross‐community consensus on granting rights to Lough Neagh. We propose that thinking about the lough through the lens of the rights of future generations—particularly to fresh drinking water—might offer a more politically palatable approach. We suggest that the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales offers a relevant institutional precedent. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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