Towards a Loire people

The ground was first prepared probably back in 1972, when legal scholar Christopher Stone argued that trees should be granted rights and when the first Meadows Report laid down limits to growth.

Twenty years later, in 1992, Christine Jean, coordinator of the Loire Vivante Committee, was the first woman to be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her campaigning. Nicknamed “madame Loire”, she spoke out on behalf of the Loire and set the stage for the proposal for Towards a Loire Parliament hearings. Instigated by the Arts & Urbanism Centre (POLAU), this explores the links and bonds between the river and its inhabitants.

Influenced by the works of philosophers Bruno Latour and Catherine Larrère, anthropologist Philippe Descola and legal scholar Valérie Cabanes, the initiative draws inspiration from the global Rights of Nature movement. Between 2019 and 2020, writer and legal scholar Camille de Toledo proposed an imaginary series of hearings as a first step towards a space where humans and non-humans could meet and make decisions. Beyond the framework itself, the exercise is about learning, listening and figuring out our concerns.

The blueprint for a common landscape

At international level, UNESCO links the challenges of preserving biosphere reserves with those of listed landscapes. Traditional activities, folklore and vernacular practices are inseparable from their original environments. They form a common landscape which must be collectively watched over. Instead of ensuring that technology prevails over a reified nature, we must now consider how we can live alongside each other and understand the extent to which we are connected.

In answer to the question raised by Bruno Latour during his hearing, “Who are the Loire people?”, we can now reply that inhabitants, fisherfolk, boatpeople, walkers, scientists, artists and tourists all form a motley crew, increasingly concerned by the defence of a Loire people with much larger ramifications. Sand, gravel, salmon, eels, shad, willows, plovers, herons, otters, beavers, clams… all benefit it by bringing new dimensions.