The Think Tank section of Renewable Matter #60, focused on rivers, provides a broad, international overview of the complex interactions between human society and river ecosystems, addressing their environmental, economic, social and even juridical implications. We began with a long chat with Erin O'Donnell, an international expert in water law, who explained what it means to attribute legal personality to a watercourse and the potential this revolutionary idea may have in influencing the relationship between humans and natural entities.

With Eric Tardieu, Secretary General of INBO, one of the most important international organisations for river basin management, we discussed policies, funding and tools for the integrated governance of water resources. Finally, Alessandro Bratti, former Secretary General of the Po River Basin Authority, shared his experience in managing one of Europe's most complex hydrographic systems, with a particular focus on the challenge of climate resilience. Below is a preview of the topics we discussed. You can read the full interviews in Renewable Matter #60.

Erin O’Donnell, The Right to be a River

That each river has its own character and personality is well known not only to anglers, but also to any keen observer of nature. For a few years now, however, these “personalities” are also starting to be officially recognised in the world of law. The Whanganui in New Zealand, the Ganges and Yamuna in India, the Rio Vilcabamba in Ecuador, the Rio Atrato in Colombia, and the Magpie in Canada are only the first and best known cases of the realisation of an idea with huge transformative potential. Attributing legal personhood status to a water course or other natural entity, such as a lake or a forest, frequently alongside its recognition as a living being, means revolutionising the foundations of Western-style jurisprudence, which has always considered the environment simply as a resource to be exploited.

Giorgia Marino sat down with Erin O’Donnell, lecturer and researcher at the University of Melbourne, international expert on water law and author of Legal Rights for Rivers (Routledge, 2018). O’Donnell puts her studies into practice as a member of the Birrarung Council, the “voice” of the Australian Yarra River: for, as she likes to point out, the rights of nature are first and foremost a matter of relationships and community. And they now offer an extraordinary opportunity to repair our compromised relationship with the “more-than-human” living world.

Eric Tardieu: Shared Waters, Shared Decisions

Water runs through every major system that sustains our societies – energy, food, industry, finance, tourism – yet governance remains fragmented, divided by institutions, sectors, and borders. Few observers understand these gaps, and the opportunities to bridge them, as well as Eric Tardieu, Secretary General of the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO).

Giorgio Kaldor interviewed him while travelling to COP30 in Brazil to understand why integrated water resources management (IWRM) succeeds in some regions and stalls in others, and why trust – built through shared data, sustainable financing and inclusive decision-making – is the real currency of progress. From Europe to China to the Amazon Basin, Tardieu argues that the tools and principles needed for coherent water management already exist. What’s missing, he warns, is the political resolve to implement them.

Alessandro Bratti, The Po’s Resilience

“We faced the 2022 drought and the 2023 and 2024 floods, but we never stopped working on innovative and up-to-date planning for the River Po, founded on the necessary mitigation and adaptation measures for climate change.”

These words come from Alessandro Bratti, interviewed by Emanuele Bompan. Now Senior Advisor to the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO), collaborator with the CMCC (Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change), and commissioner of the ARERA (Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment) Board, Bratti spent three years at the helm of the Po River Basin Authority (ADBPO), bringing his extensive experience as a politician and director of ISPRA, the Italian Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research. His insights are crucial to understand the true importance of integrate driver basin management today, particularly in one of Europe’s most complex and rich hydrographic systems: the Po.

Cover: Rio Negro, foto di U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) via Unsplash