Promoting human attachment to place in ecological law

Abstract

Contemporary law, including environmental law, is built on worldviews and moral philosophies that encourage and sanction detachment of people from place. As ecological law matures, it must embody principles for re-embedding people in the places that nourish them and for constraining or abolishing remote decisions and policies made without intimate connection to, concern about and knowledge of the local people and places affected. Time-tested Indigenous worldviews and ways of life, as well as principles of eco-cultural restoration, provide insights on how to promote attachment to place in the law.