Ecuador rewrites the laws of nature
Ecuador made history in September when its population voted in favour of a new constitution that, among other things, gives nature its own unalienable rights.
Sixty five per cent voted in favour of a bill that states: ‘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, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.’
The framework will give citizens the power to act on behalf of the environment in much the same way as they might for children, who have rights but are unable to enforce them themselves. This could mean the end of damaging activities such as those of the oil extraction industry, which currently has Ecuador in the grip of a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit with US energy giant Chevron over the company’s alleged pollution of once-pristine Amazon rainforest.
How the new laws work in practice will be the subject of worldwide scrutiny. ‘No-one knows what will happen because there are no examples of how this works in the real world,’ said Linda Siegele of the Foundation of International Environmental Law and Development. ‘But at least this will give us a working model. A lot of people will be watching what happens in Ecuador.’ Clare Kendall
December 2008
Sixty five per cent voted in favour of a bill that states: ‘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, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.’
The framework will give citizens the power to act on behalf of the environment in much the same way as they might for children, who have rights but are unable to enforce them themselves. This could mean the end of damaging activities such as those of the oil extraction industry, which currently has Ecuador in the grip of a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit with US energy giant Chevron over the company’s alleged pollution of once-pristine Amazon rainforest.
How the new laws work in practice will be the subject of worldwide scrutiny. ‘No-one knows what will happen because there are no examples of how this works in the real world,’ said Linda Siegele of the Foundation of International Environmental Law and Development. ‘But at least this will give us a working model. A lot of people will be watching what happens in Ecuador.’ Clare Kendall
December 2008
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