I have an LL.M. (Lund University) and my doctoral research explores how the emerging framework of rights of nature can inform the stewardship of Lake Vättern—an ecologically sensitive yet contested freshwater system in southern Sweden. Through an interdisciplinary approach that integrates legal theory, ecological science, and socio-cultural governance, my compilation thesis examines Lake Vättern as a dynamic social-ecological system and investigates how rights of nature principles might guide its restoration and protection.
This research addresses a significant gap in current scholarship: while the rights of nature framework has been widely studied across law, philosophy, politics, and socio-legal fields, little is known about its socio-ecological implications for ecosystems that have not yet been granted legal personhood, particularly concerning the right to ecological restoration. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2019), achieving transformative change in environmental governance requires both cultural and legal innovation, which underscores the importance of inquiries like this in advancing new ways of thinking about and practicing environmental governance.