We are all innately Guardians of this Earth, and what we have the power to do is put this Guardianship into practice. Following Indigenous perspective, we believe that being a Guardian of the Riverscape is about honouring, protecting and inspiring. Weaving practical, restorative, scientific, creative and spiritual approaches, to activate a remembering, re-awakening our ancient connection and respect for Mother Earth wonders we are all apart of and would not be here without.

Riverscapes are interconnected ecosystems, mosaics of aquatic and terrestrial habitats - the streams, rivers, drowned river valleys (rias), wet meadows, floodplains, groundwater, wetlands, riparian vegetation, forests and so on. More specifically, they are the connected integration of terrestrial and aquatic systems, both biotic (plants, fish, microbes, animals) and abiotic (sunlight, nutrients, sediment, water), from source to sea.

'“Separation is a myth. A healthy River system requires healthy forest, sea, and vice versa. Therefore, re-awakening holistic nature protection and restoration is key to the true healing of this earth and our relationship to ‘her’ .“

- Emmeline

Our work, currently focused on the Helford Riverscape, Cornwall, embodies a holistic approach; in that, we base our Guardianship practice and Rights of Nature work around how the Riverscape ecosystem ‘herself’ works best, connected. 

In this, we follow a protection, love and respect for all species depending on and living within, but together functioning as one. Therefore, we are developing our Rights of Nature practice and methods to specifically focus on the function of the Helford Riverscape ecosystem, rather than separating this out into ‘her’ physical components; in other words, we want to protect the function and restoration of the Helford ‘Flowscape’.

“The Helford Riverscape can be understood as a type of ‘Flowscape’ - An interconnected functional living system that incorporates a surface water catchment and its associated area of ocean. Critically, it’s the functional exchange of nutrients, chemicals and water within that living system.” - As quoted by one of our lead restoration science Guardians, Sam Manning.

A good analogy for this is to think of the Helford Flowscape like a circulatory system, the river being one aspect of the function and health of the circulatory system. Overall, if the Helford River and overall Riverscape is allowed to thrive in how ‘she’ functions best, ‘she’ will be more likely able to regenerate and restores herself.