Since 2017, rivers and lakes in India have been recognised as legal and living persons, including one of the most iconic rivers in the world, the Ganga. Here in Australia, the Birrarung (Yarra) is the first and, so far, only river to be recognised as a living entity in settler colonial law. Yet rivers and waterscapes throughout this continent have always been known as living ancestral beings in the First Law of Indigenous Peoples.
Shrishtee Bajpai, a researcher, writer and activist, opened this event with insights from the living rivers and waterscapes of India, and what these transformative reforms mean for river protection and environmental justice. Shrishtee was then joined in conversation by Melissa Kennedy (Tati Tati Nation, PhD candidate at Monash University) and Charity Mosienyane (settler, Regen Melbourne) in a panel chaired by Erin O’Donnell (settler, Melbourne Law School).
