The Centre for River Nations

The Centre for River Nations

Introduction

Wherever you are (unless, arguably, you happen to live in the middle of a desert) you are in a river "catchment area". When rain drops hit the ground at your feet, they will start a long journey, aided by gravity, to discover the path of least resistance to the sea. In the course of their journeys, these rain drops will gather with other rain drops to form dribbles and rivulets and streams and tributaries and, eventually rivers. Apart from however else you may describe yourself in terms of nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, even species, what you also and primarily are is a citizen of your river catchment area.

You won't receive a passport or a membership card or a free prayer book or even a letter of congratulation, because river citizenship is not as yet acknowledged by world economic and political powers. However, as a responsible human of the planet Earth, you still have some privileges and quite a few obligations.

First among the obligations are its care…. In these times of consumptive madness, little heed is paid to the dumping of effluent, the manipulating of flow, even, in some cases, the disappearance of rivers altogether. River citizenship involves working with fellow citizens to protect the interests of the river for eternity.

Another obligation is to discover the oldest known name of the river and refer to both the river and your river nation by that name at all times and to campaign for the most ancient aboriginal name to be restored.

This is not a government or corporate initiative. This is a people's initiative. You don't need anybody's authorisation to declare your river citizenship. You just do it and take up your rights and responsibilities as you see fit.

Political/geographical boundaries should be defined exclusively by river Catchment Areas.

Want to participate?

You can start simply by sending an email telling us the name of your nearest river. We will make an entry on the developing River Nations database.

If you can also include the names of the rivers via which your river connects to the sea, even better.

And if you can add descriptions and/or any historical information about your river, even better still. This project relies primarily on informational contributions from individuals from around the globe. Please don't hesitate to email us your text. All authors are credited.

If you'd like to see an example of the sort of thing we're looking for, here is the best example to date. But even just a paragraph will do for starters.

General River Information

Glossary of River Terminology

Central Data Table

The Continents
(Listed in rough order of human occupation.)