Graham Smith, Professor of Politics at the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and Chair of the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies has been quoted in an article by Euronews about whether Ireland will hold a referendum to give nature the same rights as people.
The article discusses how Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss has called on the government to hold a referendum on protecting biodiversity and hears from several experts about how this might be possible.
Speaking about the significance of this development, Professor Smith commented: “It is the first time that a constitutional protection of nature will have happened through the use of a citizens’ assembly, assuming it goes through.”
On the risk of politicians cherry-picking which recommendations from citizens’ assemblies they wish to implement, Professor Smith added: “That happened with Ireland’s climate assembly in 2017 which made 13 recommendations. Almost all of them got through except its proposal to introduce a tax on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, which farmers mobilised against.”
Read the full article on Euronews’ website.
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