Citizens' Assembly for the Rights of the Venice Lagoon

Saturday, October 10, the newly formed Initiative for the Rights of the Lagoon will present, at a citizens’ assembly hosted by Ocean Space and co-organised with NICHE (Ca’ Foscari) and IDRA as part of the Nature Speaks initiative, the first draft of a law to recognize the rights and legal personhood to the Venice Lagoon. 

The Initiative was established in 2026 as a group dedicated to continuing the citywide campaign for the rights of the lagoon, building on the Declaration published in 2025.

The idea of a Venice Lagoon endowed with rights is inspired by the global movement for the rights of nature, which comprises hundreds of initiatives across 66 different countries, and aims not only to shift a legal paradigm but also to highlight the importance of a cultural shift that is as simple as it is revolutionary: nature and ecosystems are not objects to be exploited, but living entities, endowed with intrinsic rights, to be integrated into the human legal and governmental system. 

This shift means moving from an anthropocentric worldview (with human beings at the centre) to an ecocentric one: at the centre lies the ecosystem and the planet, of which humans are a part. 

A group of around 25 people has been working tirelessly for seven months within Nature Speaks’ Policy Lab, with the aim of developing a campaign to propose that the Lagoon be recognized as a rights-bearing entity. 

The citizens’ assembly will provide an initial opportunity to put forward comments, criticisms and suggestions, aiming to begin a public debate open to all those who live, know and love the Lagoon. 

This assembly is the first step in a process that may soon lead to a concrete political proposal to enshrine the Lagoon’s rights in Italian law through existing democratic mechanisms.

Nature Speaks: Listening for Rights of Nature in Venice and Europe (2026) is Ocean Space's Research Unit, curated by Pietro Consolandi and Amalia Rossi, co-produced by TBA21–Academy and NICHE Centre for Environmental Humanities, Ca' Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with IDRA and the Confluence of European Water Bodies.

The Citizens' Assembly takes place within the framework of Riverberi Festival. Words, sounds and performances with the Lagoon (9–11 October).