Ecuador was the first country on the planet to institute legal rights to nature in 2008 under the administration of Rafael Correa. This bold move came on the heels of the demands of CONAIE, the most organized indigenous political movement in South America, for an abandonment of the extractive model of development. Extractive megaprojects had come to dominate Latin American economies during the so-called ‘commodities consensus’ of the early 21st century, which was spurred in response to increased global demand for raw materials emanating from a rising Chinese economy and an American economy that had recovered from the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

In Ecuador, although critics of what has been termed neo-extractivism have voiced concerns about the continuation of large and environmentally disruptive raw material export projects, the rights of nature/Buen Vivir legal framework has been continuously advanced to encompass a wider range of phenomena. In relatively recent news, this past October, a petition was submitted to the Ecuadorian government “to recognise Los Cedros cloud, an Ecuadorian forest roughly 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) in size, as a co-creator of a musical composition.” A first of its kind proposal brought by the More than Human Life (MOTH) project, this recognition would grant the Los Cedros cloud forest formal co-creator status in a song produced by artists from an organization called the Fungi Foundation. The song is called “Song of the Cedars”, and the artists who produced it claim that it could not have been completed without the musical contributions from the forest. 

There are so many creative ways in which the rights of nature framework can be expanded to unique circumstances across cultural contexts. As a legal precedent, this idea has its roots in a court case launched by The Sierra Club against Disney’s plans to build a ski resort in Mineral King Valley in the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Although The Sierra Club lost the court case, it prompted the judge to acknowledge that nature should have legal personhood rights, similar to how corporations are treated under law. However, outside of the courtroom these ideas are nothing new to the numerous indigenous communities across the planet that have these principles incorporated into their traditional way of being. Its expression in law is simply a manifestation of the struggle to get their perspectives considered under the apparatus of the modern state. 

As Sumak Kawsay and similarly rooted concepts popularize the granting of legal personhood rights to nature across borders, the creativity of their various applications should be celebrated and advanced (for example, “Song of the Cedars”). At the same time, these frameworks must also adapt the flexibility needed to address new and unforeseen challenges, like those posed by neo-extractivism. The progressive advancements that have been made towards de-objectifying nature are exciting new developments, but that doesn’t mean the legal frameworks and political-economic realities on the ground are a pure reflection of the environmental models that have been envisioned by indigenous communities and environmentalists.

Transforming these ideas into realities presents material challenges, and this requires movements to push them forward. This movement must start from within our communities, and in the way we interact with nature in our daily lives. Regardless of the results of the April runoff election between sitting conservative President Daniel Noboa (National Democratic Action Party) and left-leaning Luisa González (the candidate of Rafael Correa’s party: Citizen Revolution Movement), the grassroots movement to grant rights to nature will have to continue its important work.

Sources:

 León Zamosc, “The Indian Movement and Political Democracy in Ecuador,” Latin American Politics and Society, 2007.

 Dwayne Oxford, “Why is an Ecuador forest petitioning for the rights to a song?” Al Jazeera, November 3, 2024.

“Why is an Ecuador forest petitioning for the rights to a song?”