Fundamental considerations of nature as a subject of rights and its constitutional protection in Ecuador

Abstract

Ecuador has made great progress in the scope of protection of the rights recognized in its Constitutional Charter of 2008, by implementing nature as a subject of rights; however, there are certain legal-social circumstances that limit the true recognition and application of guarantees in favor of Pacha Mama. Legal science has focused on providing mechanisms of a formal nature for the application of these guarantees, which produces the separation between being and reason, since a right lacking authentic praxis generates absence of recognition and therefore its violation; thus, it is understood that the key is to deepen on those considerations of a fundamental nature that allow us to understand why nature deserves respect and is indispensable, from a sense of relationality, for our life. That is why the action of protection is the most appropriate jurisdictional guarantee when it comes to protecting nature and everything that is part of it, because it is directly and effectively applied. The violation of the rights of nature brings with it multiple forms of violence such as discrimination, exploitation, racism, disrespect for identity, lack of cultural recognition, since not only ecosystems are destroyed, but also the peoples and communities that identify with them. If the right really wants to be effective through its guarantees, it first needs to understand that it protects.