The Rights of Nature: An Emerging Transformation Opportunity for Evaluation

Abstract

“Building back better” in the post-COVID-19 Anthropocene era requires novel ideas and ways of working to truly challenge “business as usual” and contribute to urgently needed systems transformations. This article invites post-normal evaluation professionals to engage with the concept of the Rights of Nature, a generative form of institutional innovation that recognizes ecosystems and natural communities as entities that have an independent right to exist and flourish that can be enforced under legal or social norms. Pathways are suggested to use evaluation as values-driven practice to reflect on and encourage human-nature relationships founded on mutual dependence, cooperation, and synergy.