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Legislation in New Zealand dictates that the Whanganui River is a living entity and a legal person. Guardians uphold the river's environmental, social, cultural and economic well-being. We provide a conceptual discussion of the river's economic well-being, understood as the mutual enhancement of natural and human elements through community entrepreneurship that is based on human and non-human capabilities. We discuss human economic activity that preserves the right of the river to be free from pollution and form an integral part of the Māori culture and tradition, the improvement of Māori living conditions, and their rights to self-determination and prior consent.

This study aims to investigate how the existing legal framework for social enterprises in Belgium affects the activity of social enterprises in the social housing, finance and energy sector. The focus is thereby on the legal factor of governance and the decision-making power of stakeholders. These matters are examined in respect of one particular type of social enterprises, the so-called company with a social purpose, 'Vennootschap met Sociaal Oogmerk' (VSO). The authors conducted three case studies in Belgium. They examined in which way the VSO law has been implemented in three social enterprises which are active in different sectors, i.e. the energy, finance and housing sector and compared the results. By comparing the case studies, this article aims to generate (i) a cross-sectoral theoretical analysis regarding the practical application of the legal factor of governance in the three Belgian social enterprises and, (ii) a comprehensive understanding of the involvement of different stakeholders in the social enterprises' governance in these sectors. Useful conclusions were drawn for the improvement of the legal framework for social enterprises in Belgium as well as for the improvement of the social enteprises functioning.