Robert Macfarlane

How does one categorise Robert Macfarlane as an author - as a travel writer, as a naturalist, as a philosopher or even as a poet? His latest book, Is a River Alive? includes every aspect of this much-praised author’s multiple skills.

This is not a writer who stays safely at home pondering the complexities of the world and researching them just through others’ writings. Every page of this book demonstrates the incredible depth of knowledge Macfarlane gained from his extensive bibliography listed on 18 pages.

In simple terms, the book describes three distinctly different journeys: in the remote cloud forest of Ecuador, in the very varied environs of Chennai and in the extremely demanding wilderness of northeastern Canada. All these journeys, interspersed with his surroundings in Cambridgeshire, are linked by one theme: how to balance the needs of modern humanity - industry, power and mineral resources - with the rights of the natural world, mostly championed by more traditional Indigenous people and centred on rivers.

The first of these expeditions takes us to the River of the Cedars in Ecuador, a country that in 2008 introduced a new constitution which included recognising water as: ‘a public good, inalienable, imprescriptible, unseizable and essential for life’. But most importantly, and at that stage uniquely, it included in its Articles 71 to 74 what has become known as the Rights of Nature. Articles most fitting from a country whose majority Indigenous population’s culture stretches through South America and believes in the spirit of Pachamama - Mother Earth.

This first journey takes Macfarlane, accompanied by some companions, high into the cloud forest. A journey on foot, at altitude, in constant dampness, along barely used tracks deep into the forest, following the rough route alongside the River of the Cedars. His evocative descriptions of his journey not only bring to vivid life his surroundings but also the fascinating characters of his companions, each of whom has incredible skills of their own.

This forest, which has been around probably for over 1.5 million years, not only contains a vast array of nature's more unusual species it has also supported an Indigenous population and the planet with essential life systems. In 2017, it was threatened with destruction when concessions were sold to foreign mining companies but, falling back on that 2008 constitution, in 2021 a judicial decision was made in the capital of Quito and all mining activities were terminated in favour of the Rights of Nature. A ruling compared favourably to Thomas Paine's Rights of Man.

The second journey is in steep contrast to the first. Chennai (Madras) in Tamil Nadu is one of India's principal cities and is host to a population of 6.5 million and a vast amount of heavy industry. It is also a city containing three rivers, all flowing from their source in the Eastern Ghats and discharging into the Indian Ocean within the city limits.

Tamil Nadu has always been an area of extreme climate where water is highly valued by all who live there. For much of the year, it is very dry when the value of water is paramount to the lives of all who have lived here, over the generations. Then, in October, the monsoon rains arrive and fill the rivers, the marshes and the lakes.

For thousands of years, Tamils have respected the value of this basic resource and created systems of water retention and control. During the last century, industrial development and population growth have ignored this vernacular form of hydrological architecture, which respects the climate and the topography of the region. Industrial waste and sewage have been allowed to pollute and block the water systems, and the result is that Chennai regularly runs out of potable water during the dry season and then has been frequently damaged by floods and cyclones during the monsoons.

These are fine examples of three rivers which are no longer alive.

The third and final journey is the most physically challenging and is focused on a two-week canoe trip deep into the wilderness of remote north-eastern Canada along the Mutehekau Shipu River (aka the Magpie River), which drains into the Gulf of St Lawrence. This is an area already hugely developed for the production of hydropower. Many of the other rivers in the area have already been extensively dammed and the plan had been to develop the Magpie River with various dams along its length until the Indigenous (Innu) people of the area came together and persuaded the local authority to recognise the river as a living entity with fundamental rights. Macfarlane and his companions set out to experience what has been saved.

This final journey allows the author to demonstrate so clearly his amazing powers of description, not only of the awe-inspiring beauty of his remote surroundings but also of the terrifying experiences of kayaking in the extremes of white-water rapids.

I am rather embarrassed to admit that, despite his extraordinary reputation as an author and well-travelled naturalist, this is my first Robert Macfarlane book. It certainly will not be my last. His powers of description, his vast knowledge and his massive enthusiasm for the ways of nature ensure that the reader stays glued to the pages, and I am delighted that I have a whole range of previous books to catch up with.