What would it mean to recognise a river as alive?
Eleven councils across the River Avon catchment have adopted a charter recognising the river as a living entity with rights. Developed by the community-led group We Are Avon, the charter takes a different approach from granting a river legal personhood. Instead, it seeks to influence local policy and build a shared commitment among councils, communities, and those who work with the river.
The geographical scale of this work is interesting. Rivers do not follow administrative boundaries, yet the organisations responsible for their management often do. The Avon charter has brought neighbouring councils together around something they share, even if their responsibilities and priorities differ.
The river is still under considerable pressure, with campaigners reporting sewage pollution, oil slicks and dead fish. Recognition alone does not resolve these problems. `Perhaps changing the language through which we understand a river can also change the kinds of responsibilities we believe we have towards it. Rather than seeing a river as a resource to be managed, what might change if we began with the understanding that we are part of its life, and it is part of ours?
I will explore relationships with rivers and, in particular, how we can, in part, identify as part of its watershed and how that affects how we perceive place in upcoming projects.
Using the saying “a watershed moment” seems too good an opportunity to miss here, but the increasing number of examples where there is a recognition, not of a human-like consciousness, but of a comparable importance to that which we assume exists for people and their needs, are crucial steps towards a more reciprocal relationship with the Land.
Source: Oceanographic, 2 October 2026 — Rights of Nature spreads as councils adopt River Avon Charter.
We Are Avon is a river-based campaign and movement, rooted in regenerating place and restoring waters, lands, and people in the Avon valley.