Rights of Nature

Rights of nature have been recognized in Ecuador’s Constitution ². Chapter 1 indicates that nature has rights as granted by the Constitution.  The specific rights are set out in Chapter 7 of the Constitution:

• Article 71 states that “Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution”. Every person, community or nationality is able to demand recognition of rights of nature.  Further, the State will motivate persons to protect nature and promote respect towards all elements that form an ecosystem.
• Article 72 states that “Nature has the right to restoration”. In the case of severe or permanent environmental impact, the State will establish mechanisms for restoration and adopt measures to eliminate or mitigate harmful environmental consequences.  This right to restoration of nature is independent of any obligation that might otherwise exist to indemnify people that depend on natural systems.
• Article 73 provides that the State will “apply precaution and restriction measures in all the activities that can lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of the ecosystems or the permanent alteration of the natural cycles”.
• Article 74 states that persons, communities and nationalities have the “right to benefit from the environment and natural wealth that will allow wellbeing”.

The rights of nature as guaranteed in Ecuador’s Constitution have been affirmed and enforced in legal actions.  In Wheeler c Director de la Procuraduria General Del Estado de Loja ³, landowners sued local authorities for activities associated with road construction which impacted the Vilacamba River.  The case successfully invoked the constitutional protection of the rights of nature ⁴.  In another case, República del Ecuador Asamblea Nacional, Comisión de la Biodiversidad y Recursos Naturales, the Ecuadorian government sued private landowners conducting illegal gold mining activities.  The constitutional rights of nature were used to issue an orderi requiring the activities to cease and for the destruction of all items associated with the mining activities ⁵.

In 2017, Mexico City adopted rights of nature into its constitution ⁶:

Article 13: The right to the preservation and protection of nature will be guaranteed by Mexico City authorities in the scope of their competence, always promoting citizen participation in this subject ⁷.

Although not rights of nature per se, the Mexico City Constitution also guarantees everyone a right to a healthy environment and a commitment that authorities will take necessary steps for the protection of the environment and the preservation and restoration of ecological balance ⁸.   The Constitution also indicates that a secondary law will be passed to “recognize and regulate the broadest protection of the rights of nature made up of all its ecosystems and species as a collective entity subject to rights” ⁹.  At this time, it is not clear that such a secondary law has been passed.

It should also be noted that the State of Oaxaca in Mexico recently passed a constitutional amendment recognizing rights of nature ¹⁰.  This amendment granted nature rights of preservation, protection of its elements, exercise of its vital and natural cycles and ecological functions, integral restoration of its ecological balance, and legal representation ¹¹.