The BatoLabo project was born at the confluence of several initiatives carried out in the Loire region in recent years: work on a Loire Parliament, efforts to recognise nautical knowledge in the Loire as French intangible cultural heritage, and collective initiatives such as the “Grande Remontée” of the Loire river. These experiences are part of a broader context of knowledge circulation and co-production, mobilising forms of interdisciplinarity rooted in territories and practices (Darbellay; Barjot; Riaux et al.).

The team behind BatoLabo is engaged in these dynamics, which question the place of rivers in our societies, the way they are inhabited and governed, and the ways in which their voices can be heard. This approach is part of a re-examination of the modern separation between nature and culture and a focus on humans and non-humans (Descola; Latour), as it is now extended by work in human ecology and environmental humanities (Miranda Pires & Bruckmeier).

Within this framework, BatoLabo explores how itinerant research and creative practices can become concrete supports for collective reflection on river governance and health. The project adopts a resolutely interdisciplinary approach, combining social sciences, environmental sciences and artistic practices, in line with critical analyses of interdisciplinarity applied to socio-ecological issues (Jacobs & Frickel; Frodeman et al.; Ferreira & Pontes). In concrete terms, it takes the form of a long-distance voyage from the Loire to the Danube aboard a Loire barge (departing in September 2025).

Based on this experience, the project poses a central question: how can attachments to river environments, as gathered through surveys, contribute to the recognition of the rights of nature in Europe? This question is part of a rapidly developing field of research on the rights of nature and their legal, political and cultural implementation (David; Gilbert et al.). It takes on particular importance in the European context, marked by profound morphological transformations of watercourses and lasting degradation of their ecosystems (Linton; Petts; Tockner et al.; Vörösmarty et al.).

BatoLabo is thus in dialogue with programmes such as Bourges European Capital of Culture 2028, the International Rivers movement led by Camille de Toledo and the European Citizens' Initiative Right of Nature. The project positions itself as a field of observation and investigation into the effects, appropriations and resistance encountered by these legal and political proposals in the territories they cover, in relation to existing governance frameworks (Larrère; Ragueneau; Makowiak & Aragão).

BatoLabo's scientific project is based on scientific projects such as Fluvioscope (National Network of Social Sciences and Humanities Centres, Zones Ateliers Network) and is organised around three complementary axes: documenting attachments to river environments, observing modes of governance and analysing the ecological health of rivers. The ethnographic survey aims to document the reciprocal relationships between humans and non-humans, highlighting the emotions, conflicts and forms of care that structure relationships with waterways (Descola & Pálsson; Chew & Gross, n.d.). An environmental component, conducted with INRAE in Thonon-les-Bains, studies the composition of phytoplankton and the effects of developments on river health using environmental DNA samples.