Speak4Nature

The Rachel Carson Center is a part of a new multi-year, international, and interdisciplinary project that focuses on understanding ecological interdependence and the rights of nature. Together with academic institutions (universities and research centers) and non-academic institutions (for-profit companies and NGOs) in the EU and Latin America, the RCC will contribute to generating knowledge and creating new socio-legal instruments as a basis for the transformation of human attitude towards the environment. Scholars and environmental experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Italy, and Spain will work together through staff exchanges and joint research projects.

The RCC is represented by its director, environmental historian Christof Mauch, as well as by the environmental anthropologist Eveline Dürr and legal scholar Jens Kersten. Lawyer and sociologist María Valeria Berros (National University of the Littoral, Santa Fe, Argentina), a member of the RCC's Society of Fellows, is a PI in this multi-year project.

For further information, please visit the project homepage.

Incoming Project-Related Scholars:

• Rossana Pennazio (University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy, 2025)
• Sebastián Figueroa Rubio (Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, 2025)
• Diego Zorita Arroyo (Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, 2024)
• Iasna Chaves Viana (Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil, 2024)
• Isabel Pinheiro de Paula Couto (Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil, 2024)
• Gonzalo Luis Corti (National University of the Littoral (UNL), Argentina, 2024)
• Dr. iuris Nicolás Santiago Cordini (National University of the Littoral (UNL), Argentina, 2024)
• Nuria del Viso Pabon (FUHEM. Educación + ecosocial, Spain, 2024)
• José Bellver Soroa (FUHEM. Educación + ecosocial, Spain, 2024 and 2025)
• Dr. Giorgio Cantino (University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy, 2024)
• Antonio Pulgar (University of Chile, 2024)
• Prof. Dr. Leticia Albuquerque (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brasil, 2024)
• Prof. Dr. Carolina Yacamán Ochoa (Department of Geography, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, 2023)
• Prof. Dr. Sophia Simou (Faculty of Law, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, 2023)

Outgoing Project-Related Scholars:

• Dr. Anna Antonova (2025)
• Lena Engel (2025)
• Lotta Ortheil (2025)
• María del Pilar Peralta Ardila (2024)
• Franca Lorber (2024)
• Caroline Claussen (2024)
• Dr. Katherine Arnold (2024)
• Dr. des. Jonatan Palmblad (2024)

Events:

• 11–12 July 2025: “Worldmaking and Ecological Justice: Challenges Around the Globe and a Dialogue with China,” IBZ Munich (Workshop)
• 23 July 2025: “Agriculture Resilience and Nature-Based Solutions in the Era of Climate Change,” RCC (Seminar)
• 16 April 2025: “The Climate Emergency and the Right to Health: Ecological Injustice Through the Lens of Borderline Law,” RCC (Seminar)
• 1 April 2025, “Thermonuclear Natures: Ecological Compensation as a Containment Strategy,” RCC (Seminar)
• 25 March 2025: “Cultivating the Right to Food in Community Gardens in Berlin and Rio de Janeiro,” RCC (Seminar)
• 20 February 2025: “Ecological Justice in Theory and Practice,” RCC (Seminar)
• 21 November 2024: “Landraub und Widerstand: Gewalt gegen Indigene Völker aus Brasilien,” Pro REGENWALD (Talk)
• 30 October 2024: “Climate Litigation in Brazil: The Case of Lagoa da Conceição, SC,” RCC (Seminar)
• 9 October 2024: “Political Implementation of Nature's Inherent Value,” LMU Munich (Workshop)
• 24 September 2024: Dr. iuris Nicolás Cordini on “Harmonization, Cooperation, and Regional Courts: Towards a Comprehensive Legal Framework for Combating Transnational Environmental Crime,” RCC (Seminar)
• 19 September 2024: Gonzalo Luis Corti on “What Rights for Which Animals? Precedents and Horizons in Legal Status of Nonhuman Animals,” RCC (Seminar)
• 17 September 2024: Lena Köhn on “When Monkeys Rise Up,” RCC (Seminar)
• 8–14 April 2024: “Introduction to Ecological Justice,” Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) (Network School)
• 1 March 2024: Katherine Arnold (RCC) on “Understanding the ‘Biodiversity’ of Southern African Flora in the Nineteenth Century,” Autonomous University of Madrid (Seminar)
• 16 November 2023: Lena Köhn, Dipl.-Jur. (LMU) on “Nebelwälder, Flüsse und Affen vor dem Verfassungsgericht,” EineWeltHaus München e.V. (Talk)
• 26 June 2023: Carolina Yacamán (Autonomous University of Madrid) on “Policy Labs to Improve the Integration of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Management,” Rachel Carson Center (Workshop)

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