Investigating the Potential of Ecological Restoration as a Fundamental Right of Nature, with a Focus on its Relevance to Lake Vättern

Book chapter, 2026

Ecological restoration is widely acknowledged as essential to mitigate climate change and halt biodiversity loss. Increasingly, obligations to restore ecosystems are codified in international legal instruments. There is, however, no uniform understanding or use of the term restoration by legal actors and courts at the international level. The lack of uniform understanding among the judiciary arguably reflects the fact that there is no singular definition of ecological restoration by practitioners and that ‘ecological restoration’ or ‘ecosystem restoration’ is an evolving scientific concept. The term Rights of Nature (RoN) is a new legal approach whereby nonhumans are recognized as rights-holders (Kauffman & Martin 2018). Restoration as a right, the right to restoration, is a central provision in many RoN laws. Scholarship that considers the right to restoration in relation to a specific ecosystem is scarce. In light of the above, this paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of enshrining restoration as a legal right and how it addresses and repairs harm to more-than-human beings. It does so by exploring the right to ecological restoration through Earth jurisprudence in relation to Lake Vättern, a vulnerable aquatic ecosystem and source of drinking water in southern Sweden. By consulting the Eco-jurisprudence monitor, the paper reviews and analyzes legislation and case law related to restoration. Thereafter, the paper discusses what restoration for lake Vättern entails by considering the health of Lake Vättern (as described in scientific reports and through data from citizen science initiatives) in relation to the science of restoration ecology. It then critically engages with the right to restoration as an RoN provision in relation to the concept of restorative justice in the context of ecological restoration at Lake Vättern.