Constructing the Rights of Nature: Constitutional Reform, Mobilization, and Environmental Protection in Ecuador

Abstract

In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to grant legal rights to nature. In this article, I examine how this happened. I show that while proponents of nature's rights acted during a key political moment, their efforts were successful due to the presence of environmentalist social movements that elevated the environmental agenda at the national level during prior decades, and due to the power of indigenous organizations and their call to recognize Ecuador as a “plurinational” polity, demanding respect for indigenous territories and ways of life and incorporating politicized versions of indigenous beliefs about the environment. The study considers the consequences of mobilization for legal innovation and institutional change, and shows the complexity of struggles over the environment in the global South. It is based on research at the Ecuadorian National Legislative Assembly archive, semistructured interviews with respondents involved in the politics of nature and the constitutional assembly, and secondary historical sources.

Multiple conceptualizations of nature are key to inclusivity and legitimacy in global environmental governance

“…Here, we discuss how the three conceptualizations of nature we present are often related with specific conservation approaches. For instance, laws promoting the recognition of the Rights of Nature have been, in most cases, heavily influenced by Indigenous Peoples' philosophies which place nature at the center of all life (Akchurin, 2015;Borràs, 2016). The Bolivian Law of Mother Earth (Law 071; 21 st December 2010; Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia) draws on Andean spiritual traditions seeing Mother Earth (or Pachamama) as a sacred deity, and entitles nature with rights as a collective subject of interest (Pacheco, 2014;Kauffman and Martin, 2016).…”

Rights-of-Soil

“…The so-called "rights approach" (Brei 2013) can be adopted to addresses soil issues through the concept of legal and moral rights of soil. For example, the Ecuadorian constitution of 2008 has adopted an eco-centric approach and recognized enforceable rights of nature (Akchurin 2015;Kotzé and Calzadilla 2017). Legislation with regards to the "Rights of Mother Earth" also exist in Bolivia (Calzadilla and Kotzé 2018).…”

The Implementation of Earth Jurisprudence through Substantive Constitutional Rights of Nature

“…Advocates of the rights of nature were able to establish their influence in a time of political change, and to "combine radical Western ecological perspectives, politicized indigenous beliefs, and legal rights discourse to construct a hybrid concept that imagined and codified nature as a subject of constitutional rights" [57]. A part of the change was due to strong lobbying by indigenous people, and it shows how indigenous politics influenced non-indigenous systems of governance.…”