People-river inseparability

The rivers Whanganui in Aotearoa New Zealand, Atrato in Colombia and Ganga and Yamuna in India are variously considered ecological entities, spirits, ancestors, divinities and living beings. Many local people’s engagements with and relationship to these rivers can be characterized by reciprocity and care, but also by challenges related to ecological degradation and socio-political struggles. Through ethnographic descriptions, photographs and stories, the chapter portrays different ways in which people-river inseparability unfolds and is conceptualized along these rivers. Further, the chapter examines how the legal decisions to grant personhood rights to Whanganui (2017), Atrato (2016) and Ganga and Yamuna (2017) attempt to incorporate local relationships to and understandings of the rivers, revealing varying degrees of success – from extensive decolonial efforts to less detailed mentioning. The complexities of emplaced people-river relationships described in this chapter testify to the difficult task of safeguarding them through legal decisions. Moreover, our case studies suggest that local representation and extensive participation is an essential requirement for any process aiming to give substantive attention to and understanding of local particularities. This is especially the case when the intention is to do law differently and ensure legal pluralism that better safeguards the wellbeing of rivers and riverine communities.