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This book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – the idea that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane asks us to imagine that rivers are not mere water for human use, but living beings, who should be recognised as such in both imagination and law.

Around the world, rivers are dying from pollution, drought and damming. But a powerful movement is also underway worldwide to recognise the lives and rights of rivers. This young ‘rights of nature’ movement has lit up activists, artists and lawmakers across six continents, and become a focus for revolutionary thinking.

In Is a River Alive? Robert Macfarlane explores rivers across the world, journeying to northern Ecuador, southern India and north-eastern Quebec. In all these places rivers are under threat - but dedicated activists are battling to defend them.

In this third episode, he travels to Chennai in southern India, where the region’s rivers are being poisoned by pollution, and the region is locked into a brutal cycle of floods and drought. Following the river from its source to the Indian Ocean, he joins a turtle patrol trying to rescue baby turtles on the beach.

Robert Macfarlane is internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His best-selling books include Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Ness. As a lyricist and performer, he has collaborated with musicians including Karine Polwart, Johnny Flynn and Cosmo Sheldrake. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Read by Robert Macfarlane
With music by Cosmo Sheldrake and Robert Macfarlane and field recordings from Chennai.
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Loftus Media production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4