Chile Constitutional Amendment: rights of nature

Summary

In 2021, the NGOs Earth Law Center and Defensa Ambiental launched a citizens’ initiative called 15,000 Hearts for the Earth — For the Recognition and Defense of the Rights of Nature, to include rights of Nature among the topics to be discussed by Chile’s Constitutional Convention, the body in charge of drafting Chile’s new constitution. In early 2022, the initiative received enough signatures to be included in the Constitutional Convention, making it one of 77 initiatives to be analyzed as a constitutional proposal and debated in the respective commissions and plenary session of the Constitutional Convention. In March 2022, the Convention Plenary approved the second proposal of the “Commission of Environment, Rights of Nature, Natural Commons Goods and Economic Model.” The Plenary had previously rejected almost entirely the first proposal, which was an ambitious, detailed draft of 40 articles. It included nature protection rights, nature representation, historical review mandates, nature tutelage, etc. Only one article about the climate and ecological crisis was approved, and the rest returned to the Commission. After the renegotiation process, a second draft was voted in the Plenary on March 25. Almost all articles were approved, including article 4 recognizing rights of nature. The final draft constitution was released in May 2022, with rights of nature recognized in section 297, Article 4., and includes at least eight articles on the environment, including one called “About the Rights of Nature.” In section 107, Article 9., the Constitution recognizes that peoples are interdependent from nature and form, together, an inseparable whole (43). In section 108, Article 9 A. the State recognizes the Indigenous concept of Buen Vivir and promotes a relationship of harmonious balance between people, nature and the organization of society (43).

The final draft of the new Constitution was approved and submitted to President Gabriel Boric on July 4th, 2022. However, on September 4, 2022, a majority of Chilean citizens (62%) voted to reject the proposed Constitution.