Titolo: Rethinking Biodiversity Conservation Law in the Asia-Pacific Sottotitolo: Restoration of the bond between human and nature: toward holistic legal norms for environmental protection

The Asia-Pacific region – home to some of the world's most biodiverse habitats and complex legal landscapes – is an ideal context to explore the shortcomings of conservation law, as biodiversity continues to decline despite decades of international legal frameworks. This thesis aims to show that one underlying reason for this failure lies in the way people relate to nature – usually regarded as a separate entity that needs to be managed, rather than a continuum to which human beings inherently belong. Furthermore, it is argued that to overcome this separation environmental governance needs a conceptual and legal shift at its roots that fully embraces the philosophy of the Rights of Nature, which recognizes ecosystems as subjects of law entitled to rights just like human beings and helps societies restore a respectful and balanced bond with nature. In practice, this shift could take shape in three interconnected ways: the adoption of regenerative governance and the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) into national policies – all emphasizing holistic, inclusive, and non-exclusionary models of biodiversity stewardship and positioning humans as integral participants within ecological systems rather than external overseers. In conclusion, the dissertation demonstrates how these approaches could serve as a critical bridge to align international conservation law with a value-based, ecologically grounded future for the Asia-Pacific region.