The seminar “Ecological Transition and Nature: Reflections from the Margins of the Law” is conducted as part of the Ecoprudence research projects: "Revisiting the anthropocentric foundations of contemporary legal theory in light of ecological transition", a project funded by the State Research Agency (TED2021-132334B-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) in the 2021 call for “Strategic Projects Oriented towards Ecological and Digital Transition”; Theories of Justice and Global Law of Human Rights [JUSGLOBAL], a project funded by the State Research Agency (PID2019-107172RB-I00 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033); and On trust-cm: Inter-University Program in the Culture of Legality (H2019/HUM-5699), funded by the Department of Education and Research of the Community of Madrid and the European Social Fund.

Nearly 50 years after Principle 1 of the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment highlighted the environmental dimensions of civil and political rights, more than one hundred international environmental conventions, treaties, and declarations have been enacted, 26 Conferences of the Parties have been held, and more than 20 national environmental laws have been issued. Despite all this, the climate emergency continues to grow. Nearly 50 years later, the anthropocentric legal strategy seems to have failed.

At the heart of this failure lies the absence of nature as an active participant in the discussion and the development of environmental administrative and criminal law. Even in its interplay with human rights, the state has been granted exclusive decision-making and representation power over nature. Among the issues with this approach is a paradoxical ambivalence between a regulatory and a deregulatory trend. The regulatory trend, although successful in some cases, has led to the progressive bureaucratization of environmental policies and procedures, making them ineffective and distant from affected communities. On the other hand, the deregulatory trend, characterized by the use of voluntary measures, market-based approaches, and incentives or taxes, tends to prioritize economic and competitive considerations over environmental requirements. These trends often rely on scientific knowledge as the sole source for predicting environmental outcomes and managing risks. This shifts the failure of natural process management from a civilizational issue to one of lack of knowledge or competence. In contrast, it has been suggested that risk should be seen not as the probability of damage, but as the embodiment of deeply ingrained cultural values and beliefs.

Despite the central role that law should play in the ecological transition project, the anthropocentric paradigm that currently dominates its implementation has created significant gaps between legal and ecological aspects. We believe this gap must be addressed by acknowledging the inevitable interdisciplinarity and epistemic diversity surrounding our understanding of the natural world and its representation. The rights of nature, ecological law, climate justice, and ecological justice constitute the emerging framework through which new demands from the ecological movement are being integrated into the law. To fully realize the civilizational potential of this new approach, legal philosophy and doctrine must be prepared to produce corresponding analyses of the concepts and arguments that justify it. This project aims to contribute to the theoretical foundation necessary to support these initiatives, understanding that any technological or social advances aimed at achieving ecological transition will ultimately require a legal framework and new jurisprudence to accommodate and support them, not as a top-down regulation, but as a bridge towards local and adaptive governance that fosters ecological citizenship.

In line with these goals, this seminar seeks to spark a debate on how the demands for ecological transition are transforming the discourse on law. Specifically, we have identified and articulated four discussion panels to explore how the ecological paradigm is affecting legal institutions, judicial actors, the formulation of new rights, and the construction of social identities and cultural practices. The key questions to be addressed in each panel are: 1) What legal institutions does the ecological transition require, and what lessons can be learned from Latin American and European experiences? 2) How can we ensure citizen participation in the development of ecological transition projects? 3) What type of ecological transition do we want to promote through the law, and what are the advantages and risks of the available alternatives? 4) How can we build ecological awareness that respects the rights and practices of local communities?

To answer these questions, we have assembled a panel of speakers from Europe and Latin America, each an expert in one of the identified key areas. Finally, the international, gender-parity, and interdisciplinary composition of each panel aims to promote diverse dialogue on each of the topics presented.