Seminar: Nature-centric governance using The Interspecies Council with Phoebe Tickell
"In a village in Norway, humans representing flora and fauna of all kinds meet to reimagine ‘nature-centric governance’..." - Samuel Firman in The Guardian
In this seminar, we will hear from Phoebe Tickell, a scientist and "moral imagination" activist who has developed the systems and processes known as Interspecial Council.
The ‘Interspecies Council’ is a methodology to introduce more-than-human ontologies and perspectives into decision-making and policy-making. It is a transformative group practice which can be used in organiaational, community and government settings.
Interspecies councils address a specific issue. Facilitators and ecologists identify multispecies stakeholders, then assign and brief human representatives (chosen randomly or based on expertise). Councils produce an output, like a decision or manifesto, and the process concludes with an impact evaluation. The term “multispecies assembly” is sometimes used more broadly, to encompass artistic variations.
The practice is part of a growing international movement establishing nature rights and governance power. In the UK, 13 councils have recognized river rights since 2023. A nature’s rights bill is building support. A coalition of artists, ecologists, lawyers, scientists, urbanists, fishers, and policymakers is exploring the possibilities of interspecies biodiversity governance around the North Sea. Organisations are increasingly applying “nature-centric governance” techniques such as nature charters and appointing nature to boards.
We are thrilled to have Phoebe coming to share about her inspiring work with us!
More about Metagov Seminar: The Metagov Seminar invites individuals working in online governance to present their work to a community of other researchers and practitioners. Seminar topics include, but are not limited to, computational tools for governance, governance incidents and case studies from online communities, topics in cryptoeconomics, and the design of digital constitutions.
The seminar is intended for researchers and practitioners in online governance, broadly defined. We welcome guests and curious members of the public. Note that the discussion is moderated.