Half-day workshop at ICT4S 2024
In April 2024, Indigenous communities from New Zealand, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands signed a declaration providing whales the status of legal subjects with the aim of enabling better protection [see e.g., Greenpeace]. The rationale is based on „Earth Law“, or ecocentric law, which grants non-human stakeholders (from endangered species to entire ecosystems) legal rights that can be defended and protected in court. Advocacies for the rights of nature are already beginning to transform legal frameworks worldwide, with constitutional amendments, treaties, and various levels of legislation already present in 24 countries and numerous local jurisdictions. AI could play an important role in putting Earth Law approaches into practice, e.g., by helping to include non-human actors as stakeholders in decision making processes. At the same time, such approaches could help AI governance itself, e.g., by improving the recognition of environmental sustainability concerns in AI systems’ development. In this workshop, we aim to foster an interdisciplinary discussion around three questions: 1) How can AI be used to better implement Earth Law? 2) How can AI be designed more environmentally sustainable in compliance with Earth Law? 3) What are the political options and barriers in this context? In the first part of the workshops, several speakers will give inputs regarding AI, Earth Law and stakeholder involvement. In the second part of the workshop, a scenario building exercise will be conducted. The workshop is conceived as a first step for future collaboration between the participants and towards a standardisation effort in this emerging topic.
Duration & Location:
4 hours (half-day) Participants: 15-20, ICT4S 2024 Stockholm
Target Audience:
Researchers, industry representatives, and policymakers working in AI, sustainability, or both.
Convenors:
Stefanie Kunkel, Silke Niehoff (RIFS Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam), Andre Uhl (University of Chicago),