Council Chamber Programme

Rights of Nature Workshop

Bringing Nature into Public Decision Making: Rights of Nature in Practice

Brontie Ansell, Lawyers for Nature, and Emma Montlake, Environmental Law Foundation, explore together how the Rights of Nature movement is reshaping public decision making and what it means for policymakers and elected representatives.

As the pressure on Nature grows every year, public bodies have an opportunity to place Nature at the heart of governance as a stakeholder in its own right. This session will examine how Rights of Nature principles can inform policy, strengthen decision making, and support healthier communities alongside thriving ecosystems. Through practical examples and discussion, participants will gain insight into how these emerging approaches can be applied within local and national government.

Emma Montlake, Environmental Law Foundation

Emma joined the Environmental Law Foundation as an intern; she is now head of Casework. She is passionate about nature and assisting ELF's grassroot communities to protect the nature they love . Emma is a director at Love Our Ouse (LOO) and sees synergies between the work she does at ELF and LOO especially with the rights of nature movement in the UK. She is also a founder member of Green United. Helping school children in her hometown of Lewes to take environmental action, supported by the local community.

Brontie Ansell, Lawyers for Nature

Brontie is a leading Rights of Nature lawyer and was listed by Vogue as one of their top 100 sustainability innovators of 2024. As Managing Director of Lawyers for Nature and an architect of the pioneering Nature on the Board movement, she works on systemic legal change for the benefit of Nature and non-human communities. Brontie is also a trustee of Treesisters and sits on the advisory board of Common. 

Mark Barrow - Filmmaker, Beneath British Waters

Mark Barrow has spent three decades beneath the surface, capturing what we can't see, documenting the hidden world beneath our rivers - the extraordinary freshwater fish, the intricate ecosystems, the life that persists despite pollution and degradation.

For The River Summit & Festival 2026, Mark is creating "The Kingdom Beneath The Current" - a film commissioned exclusively for our event.

“My advocacy for rivers has always centred on education, particularly illuminating the extraordinary life that exists beneath the surface. Through film, I strive to transport audiences into this hidden underwater world, fostering both understanding and connection. While much of my work necessarily documents the harsh realities of pollution and environmental degradation, it is the resilience of the life that endures these conditions that compels me to continue.”
— Mark Barrow
“When one enters a river and it accepts you, you do not merely step into the current—you become part of its flow, part of something singular, magical, and unrepeatable. Rivers are not simply bodies of water; they are living entities, dynamic and irreplaceable. This philosophy lies at the heart of The Kingdom Beneath The Current.”
— Mark Barrow

Exploring Water Ownership Models

  • Speakers to be announced

Kincentric Leadership

Cocreating with the intelligence of nature: A kincentric approach to rivers
In this discussion-based workshop, we’ll explore rivers through the lens of eight principles: interdependence; animacy and intelligence; belonging and place; cocreation and diversity; justice and equity; kinship; sacredness; and unravelling.  

We’ll look at how the revolution happening in the science of plant and animal intelligence, combined with greater recognition of the value of indigenous knowledge systems, is radically changing approaches to regeneration.  We’ll reflect on Robert Macfarlane’s question, “Is a river alive?” and consider what would change if rivers were known not as inert flows of water for human use - but rather living beings recognised in both imagination and law.  We’ll ask, if watersheds are not mechanical drainage systems but rather kinship networks and units of belonging, how might that change our identities and the kind of action we take?   

We’ll use the framework of Kincentric Leadership’s 8 principles, 34 leadership capacities and collection of inspiring best practice stories, as the container for a rich and participatory discussion about more relational approaches to restoration.  

What you’ll get from this workshop:

  • Time to engage with ideas of animacy, kinship, reciprocity and cocreation with rivers

  • Space for discussion and learning from each other 

  • A framework of ideas and capacities that can help ground these ideas in your community or organisation.  

Be a 'River Detective' with Mike Blackmore

Reading the clues rivers leave behind

Join Mike Blackmore for a hands-on investigation into damaged waterways. Working like detectives at a crime scene, we'll examine physical evidence - eroded banks, unusual sediment, changed flow patterns, vegetation loss - to piece together what happened to degrade a river system.

Learn to read the landscape's story: Was it agricultural runoff? Urban development? Channel modification? Each damaged river leaves telltale signs for those who know how to look.

More importantly, discover how understanding the damage points to solutions. When you can diagnose the problem from physical clues, you can design the cure.

Perfect for: Citizen scientists, river groups, anyone curious about what rivers are trying to tell us

What you'll gain: The skills to assess river health wherever you are, and the knowledge to advocate for targeted restoration