A proposal is currently underway to create a new Working Group within the RCSL focused on the intersections between law, society, and the environment in the context of the Anthropocene — an epoch defined by humanity’s profound and irreversible impact on Earth’s systems.
This initiative arises from the recognition that the ecological transformations of our time call for renewed socio-legal inquiry. The Anthropocene challenges long-standing assumptions about law’s foundations, revealing the limits of anthropocentric and state-centered paradigms when facing the global, intergenerational, and multispecies dimensions of environmental crises. Legal scholars and sociologists alike are increasingly engaging with issues such as climate litigation, environmental constitutionalism, rights of nature, and ecological governance, yet there remains a pressing need for an integrated space to exchange perspectives and build comparative and transnational analyses.
The proposed RCSL Working Group aims to offer such a platform. It would bring together researchers examining how legal norms, institutions, and practices are being reshaped by ecological change — and how, in turn, law contributes to shaping our collective responses to it. Themes of interest might include, but not exclusively: (1) the social dynamics of climate and environmental justice movements; (2) the relationship between law, environment, and local forms of knowledge; (3) the redefinition of core legal categories such as responsibility, personhood, and property; and (4) the role of law in mediating global and local environmental transformations.
Building on the conversations initiated at the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology (Knowing Justice in the Anthropocene, Rabat, 2025), this Working Group seeks to consolidate a community of scholars addressing these questions from diverse methodological and regional perspectives. It will encourage dialogue across traditions and promote critical, interdisciplinary engagement with environmental challenges.
At this preliminary stage, the initiative remains open to collective definition. The precise focus, name, and structure of the group will be developed collaboratively. An online meeting is planned for Easter 2026 to discuss the proposal and prepare the formal application to the RCSL.
Colleagues interested in contributing—whether as founding members or collaborators—are warmly invited to express their interest by emailing cassiano.ribas@outlook.com before 30th January 2026. All scholars working on environmental law, climate justice, ecological governance, or related fields are welcome.
👉 The complete version of the proposal, including references and conceptual framing, is available here.
Also published in RCSL Newsletter 2025-2
Page last updated 10 December 2025