Summary
In 2020, the Cuenca Municipal Council and the Decentralized Autonomous Government of Cuenca Canton – located in Azuay Province of Ecuador – requested the prior opinion/constitutional review of 5 referendum questions aimed at prohibiting mining activities going on in Cuenca. These activities were impacting local water-recharge zones associated with the Yanuncay River, Tarqui River, Tomebamba River, Machángara River, and Norcay River basins.
The Court considered assertions such as “the rights cannot have material sustainability unless conditions related to the rights of nature are protected” and “that there would be an improper use of the soil of the páramos” and “100% of the concessions are in the moor, in general.”
The Court concluded that all 5 questions fell within municipal competences related to land use and environmental protection and therefore approved their constitutionality. The authorization allowed the referendum to proceed, and in 2021, voters supported the prohibition of mining in the designated areas.
Key Distinctions Between the Azuay Consultation Cases
The Cuenca Canton case involved a municipal-level consultation focused on land-use regulation and protection of local water sources, which the Court deemed constitutionally permissible and allowed to proceed to a public vote. By contrast, the Azuay Province court case concerned a province-wide consultation attempting to broadly prohibit mining, which the Court rejected as exceeding constitutional limits.
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon, Alex Putzer & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2026. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/constitutionality-of-the-popular-consultation-for-the-prohibition-of-large-and-medium-scale-mining-activities-in-cuenca/.
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