Picture credits:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whanganui_River_Aerial_Photo.jpg

Since then other countries have followed the fascinating Whanganui’s example. Two rivers in India have been declared legal entities, and Bangladesh gave all its rivers legal rights.

This means a shift in paradigm how we think about rivers and how we should govern our rivers.

In the next section we will have a closer look how practices in river management need to be accompanied by fitting innovations in their governance in order to be successful. An innovation on its own will not work if the support is lacking. Some very suitable innovations can be dismissed, because of this. Creating a governance framework, which supports the implementation of the intervention in its specific context is crucial. This is the real art and science of building a successful room for the rivers program.

The following video explains the process of the Whanganui declaration of personhood. It is important to notice how the governance structure fit the specific context of the Whanganui.

In the video several people speak about what the decleration of legal personhood means. In the end it still remains controversial whether this regulation is a good method for environmental regulation. Some locals refer to the regulation as teethless and others deem it revolutionary. What do you think about this?