Who we are
The Network acts as a hub for UK-based people currently participating in Rights of Nature related campaigns, research, and creative projects. We are a multidisciplinary group, composed of academics, activists, creatives, organisers, lawyers, and many others whose efforts blur the lines between fields.
Current members of this group form part of organisations and grassroots groups including the Anima Mundi Law Initiative, Client Earth, Ecoforensic, Environmental Law Foundation, Lawyers for Nature, Love Our Ouse, Moral Imaginations, Opus Independents, the pollen project and the Soil Association. This Network is also intimately connected with the emergent River Rights Network and working to build enduring relationships with other related initiatives. We also have members doing research and teaching at Institutions including the Open University, SOAS, and the Universities of Cambridge, Essex, Dundee, Reading, Sussex and Southampton.
In bimonthly meetings, our members exchange insights and understandings of what it would mean to recognise the rights of nature in the particular socio-political context of the UK.
Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts and find strength in our differing backgrounds. We are united by an urge to see the Rights of Nature recognised in the UK whilst engaging with the broader cultural implications this will have. Our members work in a variety of ways and hold different, ever-evolving, theories of change.
We are held together by our Mission Statement which we invite you to read below.
Our Mission
This mission statement has been written as a collective to capture the essence of the Network and create a sense of lasting unity and guidance. We recognise the broad cultural implications of Rights of Nature recognition and are committed to building relationships of mutual respect and understanding within the UK RoN movement, spanning disciplines, and learning as we grow.
This statement starts with 5 shared, grounding values and follows with a set of 5 aims to be reflected in the actions taken as a group in the future.
Guiding values:
Interdependence: Humans are a part of nature, and not separate from it, living as part of an interdependent whole with other species and systems.
Intrinsic value: Efforts to protect and restore ecosystems and natural entities should be made for nature’s sake, and should not be solely premised on instrumental value such as property interest or the advantage of certain human groups. This is done alongside recognising the intrinsic value of humanity too.
Peace: Our efforts are made in pursuit of peace and harmonious coexistence throughout nature.
Diversity: We find strength in the diversity of individuals and groups forming the network and value the voices of all members.
Unity: The network operates collectively with integrity and honesty.
Guiding Aims:
Legal, socio-political and cultural reform: Implementing Rights of Nature as a tool for radical cultural and socio-political change and legal transformation.
Movement building: Creating a hub for UK-based people who are a part of the RoN movement to collaborate across disciplines and build the field.
Outreach: Growing the movement through educational content and communications geared to a range of groups in society
Support: Providing support to values-aligned campaigns and grassroots activism.
Reflection: Exploring and engaging with the broader social and political implications of RoN recognition.
Coordination and Stewardship:
Jo Smallwood has a longstanding interest in nature conservation, animal rights and law, with a background as a solicitor specialising in environmental law. Her ESRC-funded PhD and postdoctoral fellowship at Sussex University focused on international biodiversity law implementation. Her recent book (Routledge, 2024) explores transformative environmental governance, and her current research centres on Rights of Nature frameworks in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and the UK. She co-leads the Environmental Justice Law Clinic at Sussex University and has received funding for transdisciplinary work on the rights of the Andean bear in Ecuador.
(Minimum Viable Board Member)
Since its emergence, each Network member has brought their own flair and experience to the group. The role of the coordinating team has been to provide organisational structure and create a space where this range of backgrounds and ways of thinking strengthens the movement from the inside out. Phoebe Tickell coordinated regular meetings for over a year and orchestrated our first funding bid. At this stage, Lucy Gavaghan provided support to deliver the first group gathering and worked part-time from September 2024 - September 2025 to facilitate a healthy rhythm of meetings, newsletters, and events.
A stewardship group is in formation to discuss ongoing matters of the governance and growth of the network. A full set of introductions is on the way.
Phoebe Tickell is a scientist, systems thinker, and founder and director of Moral Imaginations, a non-profit catalysing regenerative futures by igniting humanity's moral imagination. Moral Imaginations works shifts worldviews to centre nature, future generations, and an equitable future for all. The organisation pioneered the first more-than-human perspective into UK government policy-making and created a functioning more-than-human citizens assembly. In 2022, its award-winning collaboration with Camden Council embedded moral imagination as a practice into council leadership and strategy.
(Network Senior Coordinator)
Thomas Rickard is an independent researcher and facilitator specialising in participatory environmental governance, with a particular focus on river management, rights of nature, and innovative approaches to human and more-than-human participation. He holds a Masters and PhD in the Analysis and Modelling of Environmental Systems from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, complemented by training in systems thinking, ecological design, and environmental narrative analysis.
(Interim Network Coordinator)
Tom Brenan is a qualified solicitor and acts as Co-Director of Environmental Law Foundation, and its Head of Education & Policy. He is responsible for ELF’s University network and Young ELF programme. He has also worked with the National Trust, the Gaia Foundation, WinACC, and the Biodynamic Land Trust. A keen permaculturalist, grower, and Rights of Nature advocate, Tom seeks to tread a more Earth-centred path. He maintains one hand in the soil and the other in the law.
(Minimum Viable Board Member)
Lucy Gavaghan is an organiser and researcher with a degree in International Law and International Relations. In 2022, she founded the pollen project, an independent storytelling initiative. Lucy takes a systems approach and works with international and regional nature-based networks to design creative ways of processing and responding to complex, interconnected, crises. Discussions of nature-connectedness and climate breakdown need to be more accessible. For that reason, inclusion and accessibility must be at the core of our work.
(Previous Coordinator)
Marzia Briel-Barr is a qualified South African Attorney specialised in Commercial Law, bringing over 15 years of global regulatory and governance experience to Academia. With career experience in Legal, Compliance, Regulation and Governance roles, first in financial services but more recently in the Public Science and Engineering sector. The key themes of her academic research include nature-centric Governance ecosystems, AI Regulation, Intellectual Property and Research Policy.
(Minimum Viable Board Member)