Rights for Ecosystem Services Local Communities and the Rights of Nature

This book analyses how protecting the rights of local communities can contribute to the alleviation of ecological harms through the development of an innovative ‘Rights for Ecosystem Services’ framework. 

Ecosystem Services describe the range of social, ecological, and economic benefits that people obtain from nature. Recognising the role of local communities in the maintenance of these services – through, for example, practices of natural resource management – is vital to their sustainability. This book draws on arguments for the rights of nature to transform the current Payments for Ecosystem Services framework into a unique Rights for Ecosystem Services framework. With reference to a case study from Sicily, the book develops such a framework as a crucial means through which the environmental role of local communities can be recognised, protected and fostered. 

Employing insights from a range of disciplines, this book will appeal to scholars working in the areas of environmental law, legal theory, political philosophy, human rights and environmental studies; as well as others with practical concerns in the fields of conservation science and natural resource management.