Ecuadoran indigenous march to protest water policy

Space Daily via AFP: Scores of indigenous demonstrators marched on Quito Tuesday, to protest against President Rafael Correa's government and losing control of water on their traditional lands.

Lawmakers in Congress last week approved a new law that gives the state exclusive control over all water resources. It spelled a de facto end to indigenous councils that administered water resources on traditional lands.

"We are marching against (government) policies that go against the Ecuadoran people, ... namely approval of the water management law," said Vicenta Minda, an indigenous Saraguro woman who marched from the south for 10 days.

Indigenous groups say this is the government's way of making sure mining interests get what they want; many indigenous communities have opposed mining in some areas where the water they fish and drink was polluted by potentially toxic chemicals used in mining.

"We are the ones who built our communal water systems, so we should be the ones who decide on rights ... Now the state should be in charge? Faced with that we are saying: civil disobedience," added Carlos Perez, who leads Ecuarunari, an association of indigenous groups from the highlands. Ecuador has other indigenous groups in its Amazon lowlands and coast...

A mountain lagoon in Ecuador, shot by Ekem, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 3.0 license

Ecuador planned power plant in Yasuni national park, documents show

David Hill in the Guardian (UK): Ecuador’s government was moving to install a power plant to exploit oil fields under the iconic Yasuni national park at the same time as pursuing a high-profile international scheme not to exploit the oil, according to government documents seen by the Guardian.

Plans to install the plant further undermine claims by the government that it was seriously pursuing the “Yasuni-ITT Initiative” – a pioneering scheme to leave the oil in the ground in return for financial compensation from international donors.

The Yasuni national park is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet and home to indigenous peoples, some living in what Ecuador’s constitution law calls “voluntary isolation.” The ground-breaking initiative, publicly endorsed by the government in 2007, was widely praised by green and human rights groups and had been seen around the world as a novel attempt to protect forest and people. It was formally abandoned by the government last August after just 0.37% of the financial target was received from donors.

But the existence of a behind-the-scenes plan in 2010 to build energy infrastructure to power a drilling operation there casts doubt on the government’s commitment to the Yasuni-ITT initiative.

“In my opinion, these documents show that the government was actually preparing the extraction of the oil at the same time that it was officially promoting the opposite,” says Carlos Larrea, from the University Andina Simón Bolivar, who worked as an adviser between 2007 and 2011 to the government’s team promoting the Yasuni-ITT Initiative....

A green vine snake in Yasuni National Park, shot by Geoff Gallice, Wikmedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Data sharing and joint thinking urged for Amazonia

Zoraida Portillo in SciDev.net: Countries in the Amazon region need better data sharing and a more holistic view of development if they are to avoid conflicts and costs relating to key resources such as water over the next 50 years, experts warn.

A report making recommendations for a new, international security agenda for the Amazon, says the region’s nations should link-up and circulate data on water, energy, health and food security to ensure sustainable development and tackle challenges posed by changes in climate and land use. A failure to do so, it says, could lead to far greater economic and social disruption in the mid-term and create unprecedented challenges for South America’s political leaders.

“The data exist, but are very fragmented,” says Andy Jarvis, a programme leader at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and an author of the report released by CIAT and think-tank the Global Canopy Programme last month (17 December). The report was developed with input from science experts and political leaders from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

According to Jarvis, existing data on matters crucial for the region’s future security are out of date, and there is a lack of a consistent monitoring on issues such as access to water, energy and health. Where there are data, the links between these issues, or between data collected at a regional, national or international level, are missing, he adds.

Jarvis also laments the disjointed approach to development in the region, with resource extraction currently dominating the development agenda, instead of efforts to deliver sustainable and holistic progress....

An Orange-winged Amazon near Yarina Lodge, Napo Province, Ecuador. Shot by Geoff Gallice, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Amazon forest loss risks water security across South America

Paul Brown in the Ecologist: ... The combination of industrial and agricultural pollution and droughts is creating a once unthinkable vulnerability for the five countries of Amazonia. The continued destruction of the Amazon to exploit its resources for mining, agriculture and hydro-power is threatening the future of the South American continent, according to a report by campaigning groups using the latest scientific data.

Five countries - Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru - share the Amazon, and for all of them the forest area occupies more than 40% of their territory. All face threats to their water supply, energy production, food and health.

In addition, the report says, because of the over-exploitation of the region rainfall will fall by 20% over a heavily-populated area far to the south of Amazonia known as the La Plata basin, covering parts of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Last month it was reported that deforestation in Amazonia had increased by almost a third in the past year, with an area equal to 50 football pitches destroyed every minute since 2000. The report, the Amazonia Security Agenda, authored by the Global Canopy Programme and CIAT, the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, says the prosperity of the region is based on the abundance of water.

"Amazonia's abundant natural resources underpin water, food, energy, and health security for the economy and people of the region and far beyond", the report states. "At the heart of this nexus of securities is water. So abundant in the region, but now under increasing threat as industrial pollution increases, and unprecedented droughts reveal a once unthinkable water vulnerability."...

A river boat on the Amazon, shot by Pontanegra, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license 

Innovative report calls for a new security agenda for Amazonia

Digital Journal via PRWEB UK:  In a report released today, the Global Canopy Programme and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture call for a new security agenda for Amazonia and its countries. One that focuses not only on national security in a traditional sense, but acts to strengthen the fundamental underpinnings of a flourishing society: sustained access to water, energy, food and good health for all.

Manuel Pulgar, Minister of Environment for Peru (host country of the UNFCCC Climate Change Summit COP 20 – December 2014) said, “Climate change is a global problem, but one that will multiply local and regional problems in unforeseeable ways. In Latin America, we have taken Amazonia and its seemingly limitless water and forests as a given. But recent unprecedented droughts have shown us just what happens when that water security falters: it impacts food and energy production, it affects the wellbeing of entire populations, and it leaves governments and businesses with a big bill to pay. The science is clear, so we cannot afford to miss the opportunity for positive action now.”

The report, developed with input from science experts and political leaders from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, lays out initial recommendations as building blocks for dialogue and action in each of these countries. Since Amazonia’s ecosystems are shared between countries, there is also a need for governments to collaborate on coordinated responses to these shared risks.

Carlos Klink, Brazil’s National Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Quality, said: “We are understanding more and more how interdependent water, food, energy and health security are across our continent. There is also interdependence between the countries that share the Amazon, which recycles trillions of tons of water that all our people and economies rely on. The challenge that we are just beginning to recognise and act upon is one of transitioning to a more sustainable economy - one that values the role of a healthy Amazonia in underpinning long-term security and prosperity.”...

A NASA image of the Amazon River near Manaus. You can see Fitzcarraldo!

Ecuador's government shuts down indigenous rights organization over oil battle

Jeremy Hance in Mongabay: Last Wednesday, the government of Ecuador shutdown the indigenous rights NGO, Fundación Pachamama, in Quito over the group's opposition to oil drilling in indigenous areas. More than a dozen government officials showed up at Pachamama's office with a resolution by the Ministry of Environment that officially dissolved the organization, the first such moved by the government which in June passed an Executive Decree that tightened governmental oversight of the country's NGOs.

The Ecuadorean government, under Rafael Correa, contends that Pachamama was involved in physically harassing an ambassador from Chile and a businessman following a recent presentation on oil concession in the Amazon. But Pachamma denies the allegations, instead accusing the government of violence.

"We reject violent demonstrations that come from any sector. We neither support nor engage in any violent act. We cannot be blamed for acts in which we have not participated," Maria Belén Páez, the president of Fundación Pachamama, said in a statement. "For our work in defending rights, we have been attacked publicly and violently by those who hold political power, and this has been widely disseminated by the media under government control. That is violence. It is also violence to dissolve an organization unexpectedly, without legal cause, without due process that guarantees self-defense."

Pachamama says it will take its case to court and file an appeal to the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights. Pachamama, which is the name of an indigenous Earth goddess, works to empower Amazonian communities...

A view in Ecuador's Yasuni area, shot by Geoff Gallice, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Ecuador in new probe to see if climate change worsens El Nino

Terra Daily via AFP: Think Galapagos and you think nature in its most pristine expression. But the destructive weather phenomenon called El Nino turns coral reefs there a sickly white and sea iguanas scrawny. And now, in an unprecedented experiment, scientists using unmanned submarines in the waters off the Ecuadoran archipelago are probing whether global warming is related to El Nino.

There is not yet conclusive evidence of a link. But experts are very serious about the possibility that climate change is making El Nino -- unusually warm water in the Pacific off the west coast of South America -- more frequent and more intense.

For hundreds of years, the weather system at the Galapagos did not have to worry about global warming, said Eduardo Espinoza, head of maritime research at the Galapagos National Park. But climate change associated with human activity could turn El Nino into a death sentence for several marine species that are unique to the archipelago.

With future studies, it will become clear if global warming is making El Nino nastier and more frequent, said Espinoza. Located 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off the coast, the Galapagos Islands -- the natural laboratory that inspired Darwin's theory of evolution -- every now and then suffer with the arrival of El Nino. Besides warmer water, the phenomenon is also characterized by heavy rains and weaker winds....

A 2007 shot of the Galapagos, shot by Iris Diensthuber, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Why Ecuador's president has failed the country over Yasuní-ITT

Alberto Acosta in the "globaldevelopment" blog at the Guardian (UK):  Ecuador has had the opportunity to bring about environmental change, but this has been thwarted. In mid-August, a plan to leave oil in the ground in one part of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest was dismissed by President Rafael Correa. He argued that the world has failed Ecuador by contributing little of the money the government had hoped to raise, and said the oil revenues would be used to end poverty.

We always knew it would be difficult to cut through the oil interests. Indeed, doubts had been voiced since 2007, when the Yasuní-ITT initiative was proposed. In an economy addicted to black gold, people were baffled by this proposal not to drill for the 850m barrels of heavy oil – 20% of Ecuador's reserves – in Yasuní national park. Crazy though the idea seemed, however, it attracted support and grew stronger.

...The proposal has followed a convoluted path since becoming part of official political discussions. There were steps forward and back, successes and contradictions, approval and controversies. Interestingly, the idea took root even though some people considered it far-fetched. After its official launch, support grew quickly.

Yet plan B – to drill in the park if contributions were not met – has long loomed large, and, after Correa's announcement, the proposal is on the brink of destruction. He blames the international community for not contributing the $350m (£225m) a year required to fund the innovative environmental plan....

A green snake in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador, shot by Geoff Gallice, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Ecuador's president abandons no-drilling plan

Gonzalo Solano in the San Francisco Chronicle via AP: President Rafael Correa said Thursday that he has abandoned a unique and ambitious plan to persuade rich countries to pay Ecuador not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon rainforest preserve.

Environmentalist had hailed the initiative when Correa first proposed it in 2007, saying he was setting a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of preserving the environment.

"The world has failed us," Correa said in a nationally televised speech. He said the global recession was in part responsible but chiefly blamed "the great hypocrisy" of nations who emit most of the world's greenhouse gases.

"It was not charity that we sought from the international community, but co-responsibility in the face of climate change."

Correa had sought $3.6 billion in contributions to maintain a moratorium on drilling in the remote Yasuni National Park, which was declared a biosphere reserve by the United Nations in 1989 and is home to two Indian tribes living in voluntary isolation.

But he said Thursday evening that Ecuador had raised just $13 million in actual donations in pledges and that he had an obligation to his people, particularly the poor, to move ahead with drilling. The U.N. and private donors had put up the cash…

Ecuadorean tribe will 'die fighting' to defend rainforest

Jonathan Watts in the Guardian (UK): Ecuador's Yasuni national park – seen by many as the most biodiverse place on Earth – is at risk from rising extinction rates globally and local economic pressures to exploit the oil beneath the forest Link to this video In what looks set to be one of the most one-sided struggles in the history of Amazon forest conservation, an indigenous community of about 400 villagers is preparing to resist the Ecuadorean army and one of the biggest oil companies in South America.

The Kichwa tribe on Sani Isla, who were using blowpipes two generations ago, said they are ready to fight to the death to protect their territory, which covers 70,000 hectares of pristine rainforest. Petroamazonas – the state-backed oil company – have told them it will begin prospecting on 15 January, backed by public security forces.

Community members are launching a last-ditch legal battle to stop the state-run firm assisted by a British businesswoman, who is married to the village shaman, and who was recently appointed to run the local eco lodge.

Mari Muench, who is originally from London, said the community decided at two meetings late last year to reject a financial offer from the oil firm because they were concerned about the long-term environmental impact of mining. They recently learned, however, that the chief of the village has signed a contract giving the go-ahead for the oil exploration, even though they say he was not authorised to do so.

Earlier offers of a new school, university places for village children and better healthcare were dropped in the document, which provides compensation of only $40 (£24) per hectare, according to copies that the Guardian has seen. The community secretary, Klider Gualinga, said more than 80% of the village is opposed to the oil deal, but a minority are pushing it through against their wishes and local rules....

An image from Yasuni, shot by Geoff Gallice, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Project to leave oil in ground under Yasuní park reaches $300 million

John Vidal in the Guardian (UK): More than $300m (£188m) has been promised to stop the exploitation of 846m barrels of oil below the Yasuní national park in Ecuador, one of the world's most biologically rich areas of rainforest, new figures show. Ecuador's idea to leave the oil in the soil under the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) area of the park and ask the world to compensate it with half its monetary value was hailed as a revolutionary, if idealistic, new conservation idea when it was first proposed in 2007.

But critics doubted whether raising the $3.6bn needed in 13 years would be possible, and accused Ecuador of holding the world, literally, over a barrel.

However, figures released by the UN Development Programme-run Yasuní-ITT initiative shows that while most wealthy governments have declined to contribute, foundations, individuals and cash-strapped regional authorities in austerity-hit Europe have pledged or given over $300m since 2011, when the fundraising drive began in earnest.

Germany has offered $50m over three years, and Chile, Colombia, Georgia and Turkey have given token amounts. In addition, 10 regions of Europe have contributed $150-250,000 each, along with corporations including Coca Cola, airlines, banks and Brazilian, US and Russian foundations. A Puerto Rican musician gave $50,000.

But while only $64m has been formally deposited, the papers show $187m has been promised by countries including Belgium, Brazil, France, Lebanon, Indonesia, Turkey, Spain and Qatar. Some is likely to come via debt swaps and "technical agreements" as well as contracts and agreements with companies....

A view in the Yasuni natinonal park, shot by Geoff Gallice, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

For Ecuadorian village, a struggle to adapt to changing climate

Annika Mcginnis in the Kansas City Star via McClatchy:  Frosts aren't on time for the 960 people living in [Ayaloma, a] tiny, remote village, hidden on a chilly, windswept mountain ridge in South America. A minor problem? Maybe for some. But in the Andean community, 8,800 feet above sea level, frosts - and their impact on crop cycles - are kind of a big deal.

In this agricultural community, crops are planted during the full moon, a tradition meant to help ensure a full harvest. But these days, the harvests aren't as full. Village residents say it's the mark of climate change descending upon the Ayaloman people.

"In Ecuador, we've really experienced a sudden change in our climate," said Ana Loja, a professor at the University of Cuenca, in the Andes of southern Ecuador. "We cannot say, 'Maybe this is not happening,' but I think everyone is aware it is a real problem."

...In Latin America and the Caribbean, development experts say climate change is slowly but surely showing its effects. By 2050, the world's expected temperature rise of about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit will cost the region more than $100 billion annually, according to a recent report by the Inter-American Development Bank, which finances research and development efforts in the region.

Because of its location and dependence on natural resources, Latin America is especially vulnerable to climatic effects, the report said. By 2050, it predicted widespread flooding and coastal damage; the loss of Andean glaciers, Amazon rainforest and much of the Caribbean's coral region; a $32 billion to $54 billion annual decrease in agricultural exports; and increased tropical diseases and severe weather...

A vicuna near the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador, a phenomenal shot by Dabit100 / David Torres Costales@DavoTC, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Hydropower threatens Andes–Amazon link

Gayathri Vaidyanathan in Nature: Out of some 151 dams proposed for the Amazon river system, more than half will sever the connectivity between the Amazon lowlands and headwaters in the Andes mountains, according to the latest study. The unimpeded flow of the river over the past 10 million years is thought to have fuelled the extraordinary biodiversity of the Amazon ecosystem1.

The finding follows decisions to prioritize hydropower development in the countries that share the Amazon tributaries, including Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador. As many as 48 dams that produce at least two megawatts of power each are already in place, and there are plans to triple that number by 2030. Peru, especially, is aggressively pursuing hydropower in cooperation with Brazil.

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE2, is the first to evaluate the impact of all proposed dams on the six Amazon river basins across five countries, together with associated projects to construct road and power lines. Previous impact assessments focused only on individual projects and country-level impacts.

This kind of analysis “has been needed for a long time to take a comprehensive view of the Amazon basin”, says Robert Naiman, a river ecologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The study began in 2010 when Matt Finer, a staff ecologist at Save America’s Forests in Washington DC, and his colleague Clinton Jenkins, of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, acquired data on the locations of proposed dams from government ministries in all five nations. The information included their power-generation capacities and their requirements for roads and electric grids....

Lock number one under construction at Tucurui Dam in Brazil, shot by Luis Felipe Paulinyi, Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Oil trumps biodiversity in Ecuador

Rainforest News: In 2007, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa presented the Yasuní ITT Initiative to the United Nations General Assembly, declaring the country’s willingness to forego the exploitation of an estimated 846 million barrels of oil in order to preserve a large swath of the Ecuadorean Amazon. It is a bold and unprecedented plan but, unfortunately, its future is looking bleak.

Although the international community has been generally supportive of the plan, Germany, which had tentatively pledged over 50 million dollars in contribution to the initiative for the next ten years, withdrew its support — putting the entire plan to protect the incredibly biodiverse rainforest in Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park in jeopardy.

Yasuní National Park is a 17,000-kilometer section of the Amazon Basin that was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989 due to its unique biodiversity. However, this patch of pristine rainforest also has the misfortune of sitting on top of the country’s second largest supply of oil.

The Yasuní ITT proposal would protect the area from oil exploitation indefinitely by asking the international community for a financial contribution of $3.6 billion, or half the market value of the oil beneath the forest floor, over the next 10 years. The funds would be administered by the United Nations Development Programme under an international trust fund and used by the Ecuadorean government for the development of sustainable energy, preservation of ecosystems and protected areas, reforestation, social development, and job creation....

San Rafael falls in Coca Cayambe National Park, 2008, shot by Bank Track, Wikimedia Commons

Glacial retreat in Ecuador

John Vidal in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog” (UK): The Cayambe volcano lies dead on the equator line in Ecuador and is the third-highest mountain in all the Americas at 17,159 ft (5,230m). It is really only climbed by serious "Andenistas" - as opposed to Alpinists - because of its crevasses and icecap, so the great Guardian/Oxfam climate expedition stopped at a modest 4,675m (14,250ft), which is nearly the height of Mont Blanc.

Okay, we went nearly all the way by Toyota pickup on a perilous track, but the wind was bitter and the snow lay deep on the glaciers. Or what was left of them.

Where, just 25 years ago, there had been a three-kilometre long, 60-metre thick avalanche of ice, tumbling off the peak, we gazed down on bare, black rock. A whole valley once filled with ice was mostly empty. The snout of the glacier was 1,800 ft higher than it had been.

…For the next few years, glacier retreat may not be a great problem around Cayambe, because the extra melt water from the icecap makes up for the lack of rain that is being experienced. But this cannot last. Soon, the melting of the Andean cryosphere - or iceworld - will impact heavily on urban water supplies and therefore on some of the poorest people in the world, who depend on the rivers, which in turn depend on the melt water off mountains like Cayambe….

Cayambe volcano, shot by Martin Iturbide, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Galapagos face ecological disaster due to tourist trips: study

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Mosquitoes brought into the Galapagos on tourist planes and boats threaten to wreak "ecological disaster" in the islands, central to Darwin's theory of evolution, a study said Wednesday. The insects can spread potentially lethal diseases in the archipelago off Ecuador's Pacific coast, used by Charles Darwin as the basis of his seminal work "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection".

"Few tourists realise the irony that their trip to Galapagos may actually increase the risk of an ecological disaster," said Simon Goodman of Leeds University, one of the study's co-authors. "That we haven't already seen serious disease impacts in Galapagos is probably just a matter of luck."

The study found that the southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, was regularly hitching rides on planes from the South American mainland, and island-hopping on tourist boats between the different islands….

Darwin's finches or Galapagos finches. Darwin, 1845. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the Command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N. 2d edition.

Ecuador wants 'carbon bonds' to save forest

Carbon Positive: While the UN, World Bank and NGOs work away at creating a new international carbon payments mechanism to save the world’s remaining rainforests, Ecuador has been trying a variation on theme – carbon bonds. The bonds would be issued over a government guarantee that oil won’t be extracted from the Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon and its forest and biodiversity preserved.

The project would deliver a total of 407 million tonnes of emissions reduction savings, primarily from the avoided extraction and burning of 850 million barrels of oil under the reserve, and the protection of forest. There would also be significant benefits in biodiversity conservation and protecting the way of life of two indigenous groups living traditionally in the forest.

Working in a similar way to tradable carbon offset credits generated in return for emission reductions, the Ecuadorian government envisages issuing Yasuni Guarantee Certificates linked to the price of offset credits on the European carbon market.

Revenue from bond sales would offset the royalties foregone to oil companies in locking up the reserve permanently. If the oil reserve were to be exploited at some future date, the bonds would be cancelled and the government would be legally bound to return the proceeds, plus interest….

RioPindo.JPGThe wooded banks of the River Pindo, in Pastaza province, Ecuador, shot by The lifted lorax, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License

Protecting the reefs of the Galapagos Islands

Science Daily: Some of the world's rarest and most fragile coral reefs and the economies that depend on them will be better protected thanks to a major international marine project led by the University of Southampton.

The three-year, Government-funded, Darwin Initiative project Galapagos Coral Conservation: Impact Mitigation, Mapping and Monitoring was led by Professor Terry Dawson, from the University of Southampton's School of Geography. The research is published in a special edition of the peer-reviewed journal Galapagos Research.

The aim was to assist the Ecuadorian Government in protecting the last remaining extensive Galapagos coral reefs of the northern Wolf and Darwin Islands and how they can be managed in a way that still supports the economic activities that are so important to the Galapagos Islands.

The coral reefs of the Galapagos Islands contribute significantly to species richness and diversity in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR). They support thousands of species, including many rare and endemic corals. In addition, these reef ecosystems are major hotspots with remarkable numbers of sharks, tuna, turtles, and dolphins all ecologically linked to the area's reef complexes....

The Galapagos Islands from space, via NASA

Does nature have rights? Ecuador may say yes

The Guardian (UK): The South American republic of Ecuador will next week consider what many countries in the world would say is unthinkable. People will be asked to vote on 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. If they vote yes - and polls show that 56% are for and only 23% are against - then an already approved bill of rights for nature will be introduced, and new laws will change the legal status of nature from being simply property to being a right-bearing entity.

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."

Thomas Linzey, a US lawyer who has helped to develop the new legal framework for nature, says: "The dominant form of environmental protection in industrialised countries is based on the regulatory system. Governments permit and legalise the discharge of certain amounts of toxics into the environment. As a form of environmental protection, it's not working. In the same way, compensation is measured in terms of that injury to a person or people. Under the new system, it will be measured according to damage to the ecosystem. The new system is, in essence, an attempt to codify sustainable development. The new laws would grant people the right to sue on behalf of an ecosystem, even if not actually injured themselves."

Until now, all legal frameworks have been anthropocentric, or people-based. To file an environmental lawsuit requires a person to provide evidence of personal injury. This can be extremely difficult. To provide a conclusive link, say, between a cancer and polluted drinking water is, legally speaking, virtually impossible….

Get off my lawn -- the law is on my side. So says this American saltwater crocodile. This photograph was taken at La Manzanilla, Jalisco State in Mexico, on the Pacific Coast, by Tomás Castelazo. Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License