DIREITOS DA NATUREZA NA JURISPRUDÊNCIA EQUATORIANA: CASO LOS CEDROS, A FLORESTA COMO SUJEITO DE DIREITOS

Abstract

The rationality that segregates society/nature had great support from the law to consolidate itself. It is up to society, but also to the law, to reinvent itself and overcome this logic. As of the 1960s, the rights of nature became a topic under discussion among scientists and environmentalists, generating political pressure. However, this agenda has always been present in the indigenous experience, which, despite attempts at epistemicide, has never been disconnected from nature. The problem is that the colonial system never allowed these voices to resonate. It was only due to strong cultural and social movements that some countries were able to (partially) change this logic, which is the case of Ecuador. It was in Ecuador that an insurgent process enabled the participation of indigenous peoples in the country's Constituent Assembly, resulting in the establishment of the rights of nature: Pacha Mama. Even though these rights have been formally enshrined in the Magna Carta, they are often treated as mere ideals by politicians, businessmen, and judges.  In 2021 the ruling of the Los Cedros case affirms this right. The objective of this article, then, is to discuss the consolidation of the rights of nature in Ecuador from the sentence that recognized the Los Cedros forest as a subject of rights. The methodology is case study and uses bibliographic and documentary research techniques. We conclude that this is a paradigmatic case that has much to contribute to broadening the applicability of the rights of nature in Ecuador and also serves as a precedent for the advancement of the topic in the international debate and in legal research.

KEY WORDS: Rights of Nature; New Latin American Constitutionalism; Ecologization of Law; Subject of Rights; Precautionary Principle.