PA-Based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund Keeping Up The Pressure Following Historic Rights Of Nature Victory In Ecuador

In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador has enforced the nation’s constitutional “Rights of Nature” provision to halt mining concessions issued in the Los Cedros Protected Forest ecosystem. [Read more here.]

ENAMI EP, Ecuador’s national mining company, held the mining rights, which had been granted in two-thirds of the reserve. 

Thanks to the ruling, stemming from a lawsuit originally brought by the decentralized autonomous government of Cotacachi near Los Cedros, permits in the forest must be canceled. 

“This is a wonderful example of how the Rights of Nature can be enforced as a way of combating the industrial siege against ecosystems and communities by investors who profit from untethered corporate encroachment,” said Ben Price of the Franklin County-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 

The companies argued their activities automatically respect the Rights of Nature by complying with existing government regulations. In a press release, the company said that it had obtained all of the required permits, that it consulted with local communities and that no environmental damage had occurred.

The lawsuit and court’s rejection of existing environmental regulations as insufficient to protect the Rights of Nature is groundbreaking. 

“We have to move beyond the current environmental law paradigm that is based on broken connections with nature and must ensure that Rights of Nature activism continues to push that existing law changes to meet the needs of nature and people,” said Tish O’Dell of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

The plaintiffs were able to introduce scientific studies that supported their claims that current government regulations would harm the forest ecosystem and sacred species.

CELDF salutes the organizations involved in this case, including the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.

CELDF played a small role in drafting Ecuador’s Rights of Nature language and has continued to advance lawmaking that pushes the needle on the Rights of Nature. 

Let’s keep the pressure on and ensure this global movement prevails and continues to accelerate.  The stakes could not be higher, CELDF said.

For more information on programs, initiatives and how you can get involved, visit the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund website.

NewsClip:

-- The Guardian: Plans To Mine Ecuador Forest Violate Rights Of Nature, Court Rules

[Posted: December 14, 2021]  PA Environment Digest