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Sussex Law academic makes waves in Parliament on the Nature’s Rights Bill
By: Heather Stanley
Last updated: Friday, 7 November 2025
Dr Smallwood was invited to Parliament thanks to her Rights of Nature expertise and her ability to influence and build public support for the Bill, which can be endorsed online (see link in news item).
Dr Joanna Smallwood, Associate Professor in Law, attended a parliamentary session on 23 October as part of the launch of the new Nature's Rights Bill supported most notably by Baroness Natalie Bennett and naturalist, television presenter and author Chris Packham. The Nature’s Rights Bill introduces a transformative legal framework — the Integrated Rights Framework — that recognises nature as a legal subject and embeds human and economic rights within ecological limits.
Dr Smallwood has been involved in conversations around the development of the Bill which was instigated by a core working group led by Nature’s Rights founder and CEO, Mumta Ito. Dr Smallwood was invited to Parliament thanks to her Rights of Nature expertise and her ability to influence and build public support for the Bill, which individuals and organisations can endorse.
The next phase will be building a public mandate to table the Bill in the House of Commons and embedding the Integrated Rights Framework (IRF) in UK law.
Dr Smallwood said: “The Rights of Nature is a rapidly growing legal, political and social movement with nearly 600 legal initiatives worldwide. It is promising to see significant progress in the UK in recent years both through national efforts such as the Nature’s Rights Bill and local initiatives involving at least 30 rivers and one tree.
“The UK has also committed to international biodiversity obligatons, including the post-2020 Biodiversity Framework which recognises the Rights of Nature as a key tool for achieving global biodiversity goals. In the current climate, recognising nature’s rights provides a hopeful means to address unsustainable practices and protect nature, including humans.”
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Dr Smallwood has also been involved in the development of local Rights of Nature initiatives related to the River Ouse in Sussex. In a clear example of a “bottom up” approach (as opposed to the “top down” Bill and mandate described above) she took five students from Sussex’s Environmental Justice Law Clinic to join a delegation from Kings Legal Clinic to the ‘Love Our Ouse’ symposium on the practical implementation of the River Ouse Charter. The River Ouse was the first river in the UK to have a local council acknowledge the ‘Rights of the River’ in 2023. The launch of the River Charter followed in 2025. As well as developments with river rights, Dr Smallwood is particularly interested in the first tree in the UK to have its rights recognised by Rother council. The Environmental Justice Law Clinic has been developing “The Rights of Trees, Woodlands and Forests Toolkit” that will be launching in the new year.
Students recorded lively discussions between a variety of stakeholders in workshops and presented key outcomes at the end of the day. Workshops focused on different case studies to consider the practical implementation of the Ouse River Rights Charter in different contexts (housing development, conservation planning, water abstraction, and for NGOs). These are cutting edge developments for the Rights of Nature in the UK!