Project’s results

Reserch Methodology of the Project
Article
A Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Fieldwork A Few Thoughts on Methodologies and Ethical Requirements
Abstract
Research in the fields of law, legal theory, and political philosophy seldom involves fieldwork activities aimed at the collection of data in local communities. Fieldwork methodologies, ethical requirements, and practical issues are often considered something each researcher needs to take care of, independently. This short piece is a pocket guide for «fieldwork hitchhikers», may they be early career researchers, PhD students, or who- ever else approaches «the field». It does not have the intention to be comprehensive or groundbreaking. It is rather aimed at calling for more attention to the ethical requirements and research methodologies of fieldwork, as well as to the need to finetune them to the realities of the field while respecting the rights of local communities.
Online Webinar
Webinar exploring the aspects addressed in our thematic section titled “Field Research, Ethics and Interdisciplinarity”, published in the last issue of the journal Ragion Pratica.
(Video from the YouTube channel of the Research Unit on Everyday Bioethics and Ethics of Science)
Video – Training material
Civic sentinels for environmental justice and for the ecosystem
Video on Methodology and community engagement in RES and Food Sovereignity and Sustainable Development in Sicily PON-Green Projects in collaboration with SensJus and ESAIRE European-funded projects (led by Anna Berti Suman and Irene Eleta).
Video produced by Horizon Resource Booster
Research Results

Article
The Political Ecology of Small-scale and Artisanal Fisheries: Enclosures, Property and Conservation
Journal: Ragion Pratica
Abstract
This article concentrates on some aspects of the political ecology of a specific portion of marine resource users, holders, and guardians – small-scale and artisanal fisheries (SSFs) – with the aim of exploring some of the struggles they are currently facing and how they are positioned vis à vis some of the solutions proposed to improve marine resources and ecosystems management and conservation. In particular, the article looks at the expansion of states’ sovereignty and private property to reduce unsustainable catches and at the establishment of marine and coastal protected areas as instruments that often fall short of sufficiently considering and respecting the livelihoods, culture, and practices of SSFs, so being at risk of falling under the catchy name of ocean grabbing.
It is an explorative study, aimed at underlining the importance of keeping a political perspective when looking at SSFs.
Article
Assessing the values of nature to promote a sustainable future
Journal: Nature
Abstract
Understanding the diverse ways in which the natural world provides value aids informed policy decisions. The generation of a detailed catalogue of this diversity, and ways to assess values, paves the way to a more sustainable future.
Book chapter
Algunas reflexiones sobre la arquitectura de los derechos. ¿Son los límites internos diferentes de los externos?
Abstract
Por lo general, cada derecho tiene como objetivo la protección de un interés (o un conjunto de intereses agrupados) de un solo sujeto. Sin embargo, es posible imaginar un derecho que se reconoce para proteger, al mismo tiempo, dos o más intereses distintos de dos o más sujetos distintos. Este capítulo se enfoca en los límites internos de los derechos que pueden derivar del conflicto que pueda suscitarse entre los dos o más intereses protegidos para de un derecho. Analizando tres derechos –los derechos parentales, el derecho a un medioambiente saludable y la libertad de expresión– el capítulo se pregunta si tales límites internos son una fachada cuyo comportamiento es equivalente al de los límites externos. En conclusión, el capítulo demuestra que la arquitectura de los derechos es relevante. No porque lleve a posiciones normativas diferentes, sino porque la forma en que los derechos son vistos, interpretados, tratados, percibidos, temidos y apreciados depende de consideraciones que pueden no ser del todo conscientes y explícitas para los intérpretes y que están influenciadas por la apariencia del derecho. Esta consideración nos recordará que los derechos son productos históricos humanos. Y ningún producto o acción humana puede ser completamente neutral e imparcial. Para comprender totalmente el ámbito de los derechos es, por tanto, necesario involucrarse más profundamente en cómo la gente real ve, percibe y trata con el mundo abstracto de los conceptos.
Book chapter
Using Biocultural Rights to Rethink Environmental Law Through Human Rights
Book: A Research Agenda for Environmental Law (van Zeben J., Hilson C. eds), Edward Elgar
Abstract
This Chapter looks at the contribution that the framework of biocultural rights can give to re-envisioning human rights and their relationship with nature within the environmental law framework. Human rights and the rights of nature walk, apparently, two separate roads. Biocultural rights imagine the possibility of accommodating both nature and indigenous peoples and local communities as rights holders of the same legal instrument. Such accommodation allows for the envisioning of non-ecologically blind human rights that may lose their original anthropocentrism and better fit within the environmental law realm. However, biocultural rights may be at risk of shifting the burden of nature protection on indigenous peoples and local communities, requiring their holders to be and remain sustainable. This Chapter looks at the challenges that arise from their framework and proposes strategic and theoretical considerations to re-imagine human rights and international environmental law.
Book
Rights for Ecosystem Services. Local communities and the rights of nature
Giulia Sajeva, Routledge
Abstract:
This book analyses how protecting the rights of local communities can contribute to the alleviation of ecological harms through the development of an innovative ‘Rights for Ecosystem Services’ framework. Ecosystem services describe the range of social, ecological, and economic benefits that people obtain from nature. Recognising the role of local communities, and criticizing the very use of the term services, this book draws on arguments for the rights of nature. Against a market approach to nature conservation it thereby transforms the current ‘Payments for Ecosystem Services’ framework into a unique ‘Rights for Ecosystem Services’ framework. With reference to a case study from Sicily, the book develops such a framework as a crucial means through which the environmental role of local communities can be recognised, protected, and fostered. Employing insights from a range of disciplines, this book will appeal to scholars working in the areas of environmental law, legal theory, political philosophy, human rights, and environmental studies, as well as others with practical concerns in the fields of conservation science and local communities’ rights.
Video sulla pesca artigianale in Sicilia e nel Mediterraneo
Academic workshop on empirical research in agrifood law
Online workshop on methodological approaches for empirical research in Agri-food law, hosted by the Beetroot Project.
Event organized by Professor Paolo Borghi and Dr. Margherita Brunori Brunori.
This workshop offered a unique platform to explore empirical methods in Agri-Food law, share experiences, and enhance our collective understanding of this vital field.
Video coming soon
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