Giving Nature a Voice: Brontie Ansell on Building a Legal System for Nature

“If you accept the proposition that nature is a legal subject then nature should be able to assert its right to be present and to be heard.”
— Brontie Ansell, Managing Director, Lawyers for Nature

In this episode of Journey to Regeneration, I talk to Brontie Ansell, Managing Director and co-founder of Lawyers for Nature, a legal consultancy focused on advancing the rights of nature and rethinking how legal systems represent the natural world. Brontie and her colleagues work from the premise that nature should not simply be treated as property or an object of regulation, but as something with its own interests that deserve recognition and representation.

Our conversation explores how rights of nature approaches challenge traditional environmental law, which has often been structured around demonstrating harm to humans rather than recognizing harm to ecosystems themselves. Brontie explains why she sees nature law as a broader framework that can incorporate environmental regulation while also changing the underlying assumptions about humanity’s relationship with the living world.

A central theme of the discussion is how these ideas can become practical. Brontie describes Lawyers for Nature’s work developing models for nature representation in decision-making spaces, including at Faith in Nature, where nature was appointed as a director within the company’s governance structure. Rather than positioning nature as an obstacle to business activity, she argues that bringing nature into the room can improve decisions by expanding the range of information, perspectives, and possibilities considered.

We also discuss the cultural foundations behind legal change, including efforts to rethink the definition of nature itself and challenge the assumption that humans exist separately from the natural world. Brontie emphasizes that regeneration requires not only new laws and governance structures, but also changes in how organizations understand responsibility, accountability, and long-term value.

Key Takeaways

1. Rights of Nature Expands the Scope of Environmental Responsibility
   Lawyers for Nature argues that environmental law should evolve beyond protecting humans from environmental harm and recognize that ecosystems themselves can be harmed and deserve consideration.

2. Nature Law Provides a Broader Framework Than Traditional Environmental Regulation
   Environmental law remains important, but Brontie argues it should become part of a wider nature law approach that recognizes nature’s intrinsic value.

3. Legal Recognition Requires Representation
   If nature is understood as a legal subject, then rivers, ecosystems, and species require mechanisms to have their interests represented in courts and decision-making forums.

4. Corporate Governance Can Include Nature as a Stakeholder
   The Faith in Nature example demonstrates how companies can formally incorporate nature into governance structures through board-level representation.

5. Nature Representatives Are Designed to Improve Decisions, Not Block Business
   A nature representative should not act as a “green police” function but should broaden discussions by introducing ecological knowledge, alternative options, and longer-term perspectives.

6. Legal Change Depends on Cultural Change
   Changing laws requires deeper shifts in how societies understand their relationship with nature, including moving away from the idea that humans exist separately from the natural world.

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The regenerative business practices and sustainability innovations highlighted in this week’s Regenerative Insights directly tackle the critical issues of corporate responsibility explored in my recent book explored in my recent book, The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profit and Socializes Cost.