QUITO, ECUADOR, September 24, 2008: The South American republic of Ecuador will vote Sunday on a new constitution that would give Ecuador’s tropical forests, islands, rivers and air similar legal rights to those normally granted to humans. Polls show that 56% are for and only 23% are against. If it passes, nature will no longer be simply property; it will be an entity with legal rights. Furthermore, the new laws will grant people the right to sue on behalf on an ecosystem, without having to prove personal injury to themselves.
The proposed bill states: “Natural communities and ecosystems possess the unalienable right to exist, flourish and evolve within Ecuador. Those rights shall be self-executing, and it shall be the duty and right of all Ecuadorian governments, communities, and individuals to enforce those rights.”
The origins of this apparent legal tidal shift lie in Ecuador’s growing disillusionment with foreign multinationals which have ruthlessly exploited its natural resources and left little but disastrous pollution and poverty in their wake. An example is the alleged dumping by Chevron (formerly Texaco) of billions of gallons of crude oil and toxic waste into unlined pits in the Amazon jungle over two decades, the subject of a bitter lawsuit.
The proposed new laws, the most progressive in the world, should protect Ecuador from ever again experiencing such damage.