Full Glossary

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Use this glossary to help understand some of the terms most commonly used when discussing “Rights of Nature.” Browse terms by category as you scroll down, or you can view them all from A to Z at the end.

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Foundations and Worldviews

Big-picture ideas that shape rights of nature: what nature is, what it means to flourish, and why law can treat ecosystems as more than property.

Ecological Integrity

Ecological integrity is the health of an ecosystem as a whole: its structure, processes, and ability to recover and thrive over time.

Natural Community or Ecosystem

A natural community / ecosystem is a living system of relationships: water, land, species, and the processes that connect them.

Rights of Nature

Rights of nature is a legal framework that recognizes elements of the natural world as having enforceable rights, such as the right to exist, flourish, regenerate, and be restored after harm.

Rights-holder

A rights-holder is the natural community or ecosystem that the law recognizes as having enforceable rights (for example, a river, forest, or watershed).

Legal Building Blocks

Core legal concepts you’ll see in filings and court decisions, explained plainly so you can follow the structure of a rights-of-nature claim.

Cause of Action

A cause of action is the specific legal claim that lets a court hear your case, what law was violated and what the plaintiff is entitled to ask for.

Declaratory Judgment

A declaratory judgment is a court decision that clarifies legal rights and duties, declaring what the law means and how it applies, without necessarily ordering immediate action.

Due Process

Due process is the legal requirement that government actions affecting rights follow fair procedures, and in some contexts, be substantively fair.

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is a court’s legal authority to hear a case and issue binding orders over the parties and the subject matter.

Legal Personhood

Legal personhood is a legal status that allows an entity to hold rights and duties under law and to act through representatives.

Legal Standing

Standing is the legal requirement that determines who is allowed to bring a case in court.

Legally Recognized Rights

Legally recognized rights are rights acknowledged in law (by constitution, statute, ordinance, treaty, or court decision) that can be defended and enforced.

Preemption

Preemption is when a higher level of law limits or blocks a lower level of law from operating, for example, state law overriding a local ordinance.

Governance and Representation

How nature’s rights are enforced in practice: who can act on nature’s behalf, what authority they have, and how accountability works.

Fiduciary Duty

A fiduciary duty is a high legal duty to act loyally and in the best interests of the person or entity you represent.

Guardians

Guardians / representatives are the people or entities authorized to speak and act on behalf of a rights-holder in legal or governmental processes, including, in some systems, any resident or member of the public.

Guardianship

Guardianship is the legal arrangement that defines a guardian’s authority, responsibilities, and accountability when acting for another rights-holder.

Rights, Duties, and Responsibility

What “rights of nature” actually means in law, and what duties people, corporations, and governments may have not to violate those rights.

Balancing of Interests

Balancing of interests means nature’s interests are included and weighed as legally cognizable interests - without assuming nature automatically wins every conflict.

Duty of Care

A duty of care is a legal obligation to act reasonably to avoid causing foreseeable harm.

Precautionary Principle

The precautionary principle holds that when an action may cause serious harm, lack of full scientific certainty is not a reason to delay protective measures.

Reciprocity and Non-reciprocity

Reciprocity is mutual obligation. In rights of nature law, the relationship is typically non-reciprocal: nature has rights, and others have duties not to violate them.

Violation

A violation is ecological harm treated as a violation of the ecosystem’s rights, not just a regulatory infraction.

Remedies and Restoration

What courts (or decision-makers) can order when nature is harmed, from stopping the damage to repairing ecosystems and preventing repeat violations.

Injunction

An injunction is a court order requiring someone to stop (or start) an action, often used to prevent ongoing ecological harm.

Irreparable Harm

Irreparable harm is damage that can’t be adequately fixed later with money or after-the-fact remedies.

Preliminary Injunction

A preliminary injunction is a temporary court order issued early in a case to prevent likely harm before final judgment.

Prevention

Prevention is a core shift: avoid ecological harm where possible, instead of only reducing or compensating for it after the fact.

Remedies

Remedies are court-ordered outcomes designed to stop harm and repair it (not just pay damages).

Restoration

Restoration is the repair of ecological harm by returning a natural system toward health, function, and resilience.

Watersheds and Water Law

Key water concepts that come up constantly in river and watershed protection: flow, withdrawals, public ownership, and how rights get decided.

Beneficial Use

Beneficial use is a water-law principle that ties water rights to recognized uses, rather than allowing water to be hoarded.

Instream Flow

Instream flow is the amount of water kept in a river or stream to protect ecological functions like fish habitat, temperature, and water quality.

Navigable Waters

Navigable waters are waters legally recognized as capable of being used for commerce or travel, often triggering special regulatory and public rights.

Public Trust Doctrine

The public trust doctrine holds that certain natural resources are preserved for public use and the government must protect them for the public’s benefit.

Riparian Zone

A riparian zone is the vegetated area along rivers and streams that protects water quality and provides habitat.

Tributary and Inflows

A tributary is a smaller stream or river that flows into a larger one. “Inflow stream” is a plain-language way to describe the same idea.

Water Rights Adjudication

A water rights adjudication is a court process that determines and confirms who has the right to use water, in what amount, from what source, and with what priority.

Watershed

A watershed is the area of land where all water drains to the same river, lake, wetland, or ocean outlet.

Watershed Health

Watershed health describes how well a watershed functions to support clean water, habitat, biodiversity, and resilience over time.

Comparisons and Related Frameworks

Helpful reference points: how rights of nature relates to other legal tools and ethical frameworks, and where it overlaps or differs.

All terms from A to Z

Prefer to browse everything? Here’s the full list of terms in alphabetical order.