Accessing the Future

Wie nehmen Kinder ihre Beteiligungsrechte in Umweltfragen wahr? Die vorliegende partizipative Studie gibt Einblicke in die Rechtsverständnisse von Kindern, die sich für die Umwelt engagieren. Verschiedene Vorstellungen von Kindern in Bezug auf ihr Recht auf eine gesunde Umwelt werden analysiert und Herausforderungen in der politischen Teilhabe in Umweltfragen von jungen Menschen aufgezeigt.



How do children perceive access and participation rights in environmental matters? The study presented in this book aims to broaden the discourse on political participation in environmental issues to include the perspectives of children and young people. As part of a participatory qualitative study, six interviews were conducted with young activists to explore their perspectives on their rights in environmental matters. The theoretical framework of the study is the concept of 'Living Rights'. Different dimensions of children's understanding of rights in relation to a healthy environment are analyzed, and challenges that children encounter when invoking their rights to access and participation are revealed.



Born in Bielefeld (Germany) in 1993, Frederike Lindau has spent much of her life in nature and experienced the interconnection between natural spaces and its inhabitants early. During a voluntary service, she had the opportunity to support an educational project in Chiapas, Mexico. This inspired her to study educational sciences in Berlin, Germany, with a focus on children's rights in emergency situations. After her Bachelor, she spent several years working in different projects promoting children's rights.



Introduction

Literature Review

Children's Rights related to a healthy environment

Intersectional discrimination and environmental harm

Conceptions of rights – as framework and living practice

A framework for children's rights in environmental matters

Access and participation rights

Broadening the discourse: Rights as living rights

Environmental activism and children's role: Reflections from literature and the public discourse

Children's activism for the environment and their access to justice: Recent examples

The conceptions of environmental ethics and environmental activists: Findings in literature

Research and methodology

Context of research and field access

Limitations of research

Ethical aspects of involving children in research

Research questions

Research methods

Interview-design

Data-analysis

Results

Category 1: Conceptions of rights

Subcategory 1: Experience of the environment and environmental harm

Subcategory 2: Entitlement and generativity

Subcategory 3: Rights and formulations of justice as language for legitimation, as tool and as supportive framework

Category 2: Conceptions on activism as practice of participation and access rights

Subcategory 1: Activism as a result of a learning process, socialized through personal relationships and inspirations by others

Subcategory 2: Conceptions on approaches to activism

Subcategory 3: Activism as a personal benefit

Subcategory 4: Activism as a personal and societal challenge

Subcategory 5: A call to action for accountability, rule of law, participation and a change of consciousness

Summary of findings

Discussion

The experience of the environment: From an anthropocentric to a biocentric vision

Generativity and collectivity: Considering relations of injustice that reach beyond the present

The need for a more inclusive vision of law and jurisdiction

Conclusion

References

Abstract (Deutsch)

About the author