Lampedusa, on the edge of the European border, is today configured as an emblematic space of the contemporary Mediterranean: a climate and migration hotspot, a geopolitical frontier, and a particularly fragile ecosystem that needs to be safeguarded. In this territory, the effects of climate change, migration, and marine exploitation converge intensely, revealing the limitations of current environmental and border governance frameworks. At present, environmental policies applied in Lampedusa are mostly framed within an approach oriented toward the management of the territory based on human, economic, and security interests. This small-scale island may become a reference point for the necessary transformation of the anthropocentric Mediterranean perspective. This paper raises a central question: what legal and political transformations could occur if, instead of this anthropocentric vision, an ecocentric approach based on the Rights of Nature were adopted? From the theoretical framework of Earth jurisprudence and climate justice, the paper proposes rethinking the Mediterranean Sea not only as a border or a resource, but as a legal subject, endowed with intrinsic value and deserving of its own legal protection. From a strategic perspective, in the context of the current political situation, the question is how to advance the design of a strategy that allows for the extension of an ecocentric perspective in the Mediterranean. Lampedusa can be a good example for the design of this strategy. The case of Lampedusa allows for the exploration of new forms of articulation between sustainability, citizen participation, and ecosystem protection. In this work, sustainability is understood not as a static and defined objective, but as a dynamic process that implies profound legal and social changes, but which, at the same time, requires a deep reconfiguration of the traditional categories of environmental law. In this sense, Lampedusa is presented as a privileged laboratory for the development of an ecocentric perspective capable of responding to the ecological and human challenges of the globalised Mediterranean.
Lampedusa entre la frontera y el ecosistema: limitaciones y oportunidades de las políticas medioambientales y de las políticas ecocéntricas en un contexto de crisis climática y político-social
Cristina Caldareri;
2026-01-01
Abstract
Lampedusa, on the edge of the European border, is today configured as an emblematic space of the contemporary Mediterranean: a climate and migration hotspot, a geopolitical frontier, and a particularly fragile ecosystem that needs to be safeguarded. In this territory, the effects of climate change, migration, and marine exploitation converge intensely, revealing the limitations of current environmental and border governance frameworks. At present, environmental policies applied in Lampedusa are mostly framed within an approach oriented toward the management of the territory based on human, economic, and security interests. This small-scale island may become a reference point for the necessary transformation of the anthropocentric Mediterranean perspective. This paper raises a central question: what legal and political transformations could occur if, instead of this anthropocentric vision, an ecocentric approach based on the Rights of Nature were adopted? From the theoretical framework of Earth jurisprudence and climate justice, the paper proposes rethinking the Mediterranean Sea not only as a border or a resource, but as a legal subject, endowed with intrinsic value and deserving of its own legal protection. From a strategic perspective, in the context of the current political situation, the question is how to advance the design of a strategy that allows for the extension of an ecocentric perspective in the Mediterranean. Lampedusa can be a good example for the design of this strategy. The case of Lampedusa allows for the exploration of new forms of articulation between sustainability, citizen participation, and ecosystem protection. In this work, sustainability is understood not as a static and defined objective, but as a dynamic process that implies profound legal and social changes, but which, at the same time, requires a deep reconfiguration of the traditional categories of environmental law. In this sense, Lampedusa is presented as a privileged laboratory for the development of an ecocentric perspective capable of responding to the ecological and human challenges of the globalised Mediterranean.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
