Ecuador Organic Law on Justice and Protection for the Páramos

Summary

In January 2022, a legislator from Carchi Province submitted a bill to Ecuador’s National Assembly to establish protection for the páramo (Andean moorland) ecosystems in Ecuador. The purpose of the bill is to recognize the páramos as strategic ecosystems and “establish guidelines that guarantee their conservation, integrity, preservation, restoration, sustainable use, generation of knowledge and limitations of dominion.” (machine translated). It also establishes provisions to guarantee justice for the traditional inhabitants of the moorlands, including protecting their natural patrimony and guaranteeing the right of the population to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment. (page 7)

Ecosystem
The law states there are several definitions of the páramo, but it can be understood as “the world’s highest-altitude natural ecosystem with the most diverse flora of any mountain ecosystem in the world.” In Ecuador, it is estimated that páramos cover 7% of the country’s total land area (page 2). They are located between the glaciers and the forest-line, and includes formations of low shrubs and wetlands, such as: rivers, streams, creeks, peat bogs, swamps, lakes and lagoons, among others (page 8).

In addition to serving as a biological corridor, water regulation is the most notable value of the páramos in Latin America, Africa, and Oceania… 85% of the sources of drinking water, water for electricity, and water for irrigation and food production come from the páramos. Despite the undeniable value of the páramos, it is estimated that nearly 30% of all páramos have been completely transformed or degraded, and 40% have been altered by burning, livestock, roads, forest plantations, etc.” (machine translated page 2)

Jurisprudential Framing
Although the bill does not expressly refer to the rights of nature, its text contributes to regulating and exercising the rights of nature in the context of páramo ecosystems. In the explanatory memorandum, the bill makes reference to Constitutional Court Ruling No. 1149-19-JP/21 (p 3), which recognized the rights of nature in Los Cedros Protected Forest and established that “the rights of nature protect ecosystems and natural processes for their intrinsic value” throughout the national territory. In that ruling, the Court stated:

“it would not be logical to affirm that the rights of nature, the right to water, and the human right to a healthy and balanced environment have validity only in protected areas and intangible zones. On the contrary, the obligations to protect these rights apply to public authorities throughout the national territory, and must therefore be analyzed in accordance with the Constitution and infra-constitutional norms when authorizing, restricting or regulating such extractive activities.” (machine translated)

Taken together, this indicates that the bill is intended to guide the protection of the páramo ecosystems as called for by the rights of nature outlined in Articles 71-73 of Ecuador’s Constitution.

In May 2022, the bill was referred to the National Assembly’s Legislative Commission on Biodiversity for analysis. As of early 2023, the bill was still in the first debate. It will likely take several years for it to pass all legislative procedures to become law.