Ecuador may soon formally recognize that nature has its own inalienable legal rights. A constitutional assembly that is rewriting that nation’s Constitution has approved new articles that would treat ecosystems and natural communities as having fundamental rights to exist and flourish; they could not be treated as mere property. Under the new articles, land owners could still pursue development, but they would not be able to interfere with the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. Residents of local communities could sue to enforce those rights of ecosystems, and local governments could remedy violations.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania – which has worked with dozens of municipal governments in the U.S. to adopt local ordinances establishing rights for nature – served as an advisor to the Ecuador Constitutional Assembly. Photo by Flickmor, via Flickr, licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC license.