Citizens' Assembly for the Rights of the Lagoon
16 May 2026 | 11:00 – 14:00
Ocean Space, in collaboration with NICHE Centre for Environmental Humanities, is hosting the first citizens’ assembly on the rights of the Venice Lagoon in 2026.
During the event, the working group behind the Policy Lab of the project Nature Speaks: Listening for Rights of Nature in Venice and Europe will present the progress made in the first two months of activity.
The event will be led by the activists of IDRA – Iniziativa per i Diritti delle Reti d’Acqua, and will have a highly dialogic character, aimed at listening to the community and debating issues related to thecampaign for the rights of nature in the Venice Lagoon.
In 2025, a broad citizen movement led to the collective drafting of the Declaration for the Rights of the Venice Lagoon, a cultural and moral document that sets out the principles for granting legal personhood and a series of eight inalienable rights to the ecosystem.
After achieving this first milestone, the movement is now focusing on the practical implementation of this potentially revolutionary legal tool, the legal personhood of the Lagoon herself, exploring various possibilities: from its adoption by public institutions to its implementation through river and wetland contracts, and even suggesting the chance of pursuing a citizen initiative law.
The movement for the rights of nature is currently the fastest-growing global legal movement, with hundreds of grassroots initiatives worldwide advocating for natural elements of our planet to no longer be seen as governed by humans, but as entities with legal personhood and rights that recognize their intrinsic value.
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.
