Matthias Kramm

My area of expertise lies at the intersection of environmental ethics, political philosophy, and non-Western philosophy. My primary focus is on the normative question of whether something is ethically or politically desirable. At the same time, I try not to think exclusively within a Eurocentric framework.

Thematically, my focus is currently on biodiversity ethics and the rights of nature. On the one hand, I am engaged with the discourse on justification: Why is biodiversity valuable? To what extent can the concept of legal personhood be applied to nature or specific ecosystems? On the other hand, as a political philosopher, I am also deeply concerned with the political dimension and the discourse on implementation: How could biodiversity conservation be implemented within deliberative democracies? What political and legal instruments can help ensure that the rights of nature do not remain a paper tiger?

My current research project is called RONCLIM, which is an acronym for the following project title: “Rights of Nature in times of climate crisis: Opportunity or obstacle?” The research project is part of my Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Kassel and is funded by the EU. In this project, I aim to explore the extent to which granting rights to nature or specific ecosystems can contribute to climate protection or climate adaptation. For example, rights of nature can protect the biodiversity of ecosystems, which would strengthen their function as carbon sinks. Resilience to increasing climate stress would also be enhanced. At the same time, however, the rights of nature could also be used for other purposes, such as in lawsuits against wind or solar energy projects.

What immediately struck me as positive about the Kassel Institute for Sustainability is its commitment to interdisciplinarity. An interdisciplinary approach is essential, especially for a topic like sustainability. Normative questions are also explicitly taken into account, since sustainability has always reflected how we, as a society, want to—or should—live. Equally impressive is the focus on socio-ecological transformation, which makes it possible to consistently translate theoretical considerations into practical applications.