Chairs
Gonçalo de Almeida Ribeiro gmvaribeiro@gmail.com gar@tribconstitucional.pt
Yaffa Epstein yaffa.epstein@jur.uu.se

There is a great deal of discussion nowadays about whether nature as a whole or particular natural entities — a mountain, a forest, a river, an endangered species etc. — can be bearers of rights and whether such rights are intrinsic (ascribed to nature for natural entities’ own sake) or conventional (a device to protect human interests and values).

• From these basic questions others proceed:
• Ought the rights of nature be constitutionally entrenched?
• Are they subject to the general constitutional regime of fundamental rights?
• How are such rights to be legally exercised?
• What is the relationship between the rights of nature and environmental protection?

The workshop is an occasion to discuss these and other questions in this rather new field of inquiry.