In recent years, the notion of justice has experienced a profound transformation, expanding its reach beyond traditional human-centered boundaries to embrace a more inclusive understanding. Multispecies Justice (MSJ) emerges at the forefront of this intellectual revolution, challenging anthropocentric frameworks by recognizing the intrinsic rights and interconnectedness of all beings—both living and non-living—within Earth’s ecological tapestry. This progressive field argues that justice is not solely about human welfare but must extend to encompass other species and entire ecosystems, fundamentally redefining how we approach environmental ethics, policy, and management.
At its core, MSJ dismantles hegemonic perspectives that reduce non-human beings to mere objects of concern or resources for human use. Instead, it positions Earth others—plants, animals, and ecological systems—as subjects of justice with their own inherent value and agency. This reframing compels a reexamination of legal, political, and economic institutions that historically exclude or marginalize these beings, inviting a more equitable form of governance where multispecies communities participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their existence and well-being.
A vital component of MSJ is its emphasis on relationality. Justice is not just about individual beings but about the complex relationships that bind organisms within ecosystems. Human activities often disrupt these relationships, disproportionately shaping ecological outcomes. MSJ highlights humanity’s unique ability and responsibility to mediate these connections, emphasizing that any effort toward justice must grapple with the sociopolitical dynamics underpinning human-Earth other interactions.
One of the most pressing arenas where MSJ’s framework can be applied is in the management of invasive species, particularly invasive weeds, within urban environments. Standard approaches to invasive species management tend to focus narrowly on eradicating or controlling these organisms to preserve native biodiversity, often overlooking the nuanced ecological roles that invasive species may play. MSJ urges a shift from problem-solving toward a deliberative process attentive to the functional roles invasive species fulfill, the capabilities they sustain, and their embeddedness in hybrid ecologies.
Such an approach acknowledges that the costs and benefits of invasive species—and the interventions enacted against them—are not universally shared. Rather, they reflect complex social-ecological distributions, frequently entangled with patterns of marginalization where vulnerable human populations and Earth others co-experience environmental burdens. By broadening justice to encompass all beings affected, MSJ facilitates more inclusive deliberations that expose power imbalances, misrecognition, and unintended harms, rather than glossing over conflicts and trade-offs.
Despite growing advocacy for inclusivity in environmental governance, important global frameworks currently fall short in incorporating multispecies perspectives meaningfully. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) exemplifies this tension. While recognizing socio-ecological complexity, its governance models remain anthropocentric, treating other species as mere objects or stakeholders only insofar as they align with human values. Earth others do not participate as agents within governance structures, which undermines the potential for genuinely equitable outcomes.
This anthropocentrism manifests clearly in the symbolic and practical architecture of governance, where institutions and human communities are the sole actors at the decision-making table. Plants and animals, despite being foundational to ecosystems, are depicted as problems to manage rather than subjects whose rights and interests must be respected and integrated. MSJ challenges this paradigm by urging a reimagining of governance that explicitly includes Earth others as active participants, thereby democratizing environmental decision-making across species lines.
Operationalizing MSJ involves drawing from diverse fields and practices that recognize non-human agency and foster respectful relationships with Earth others. Legal innovations around the recognition of legal personhood for natural entities, conservation efforts incorporating cultural and ceremonial engagements, and planning approaches that emphasize social-ecological connectivity all offer practical pathways to enshrine multispecies justice in tangible governance processes.
The transformative potential of MSJ is particularly significant in urban contexts, where novel ecosystems and invasive species coexist within human-designed landscapes. Traditional management often relies on technocratic and anthropocentric approaches focused solely on human benefits or ecosystem services, overlooking the complex interdependencies that give rise to coexistence or conflict. MSJ provides a framework to unpack these tensions critically, encouraging reflection on whose perspectives dominate, how benefits and burdens are distributed, and recognizing the agency of non-human beings entangled in urban ecologies.
In adopting an MSJ lens, practitioners and researchers are equipped to move beyond binary narratives of native versus invasive species toward more nuanced understanding that reveals hidden values and functional roles. Invasive weeds, often labeled as undesirable, can play unexpected roles in supporting faunal communities, enhancing ecosystem resilience, or providing cultural significance. Recognizing these multifaceted roles expands the scope of justice to honor relationality and complexity rather than enforcing simplistic categorizations.
The deliberative processes MSJ advocates also foster greater transparency and inclusiveness in decision-making. By explicitly considering representation, distribution, and agency among all beings involved, governance becomes more reflective of multispecies realities. This critical reflection helps identify and mitigate unintended consequences, redistributes power more equitably, and cultivates practices that honor the interdependencies vital for the flourishing of diverse ecological communities.
Moreover, MSJ serves as a catalyst for dialogue among diverse stakeholders, bridging conflicts that arise from differing valuations of invasive species and novel ecosystems. By centering multispecies relationships, MSJ opens spaces for negotiation and understanding that respect both human and non-human interests, promoting coexistence strategies that are ethically robust and ecologically informed.
Importantly, MSJ invites a deep reconsideration of how human beings conceive of and enact their relationships with Earth others. This paradigm shift is not merely theoretical; it redefines everyday interactions, policy decisions, and cultural practices, emphasizing care, respect, and reciprocity. Through MSJ, conservation and urban sustainability efforts can transcend reductionist management to cultivate flourishing multispecies communities grounded in justice.
As the global community confronts escalating environmental crises and unprecedented biodiversity loss, integrating MSJ into environmental governance offers a hopeful avenue. It suggests that addressing the challenges posed by invasive species requires more than ecological science or technological fixes—it demands fundamentally rethinking justice and extending ethical consideration across species boundaries.
By centering justice as multispecies and relational, this emerging field reveals both the constraints and possibilities inherent in human interactions with the more-than-human world. It charts a course toward governance systems that acknowledge and honor the agency, rights, and well-being of Earth others, ultimately fostering more resilient, inclusive, and just futures for all inhabitants of our shared planet.
Subject of Research: Multispecies Justice in the context of invasive species and ecological governance.
Article Title: Subjects of justice: rethinking invasive weeds through multispecies justice.
Article References:
Gillespie, J., Pineda-Pinto, M., Dan Penny et al. Subjects of justice: rethinking invasive weeds through multispecies justice. npj Urban Sustain 5, 85 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00281-1
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