Ecuador court case: Llurimagua copper mine in the Intag Cloud Forest

Summary

In 2020, in Cotacachi, Ecuador, biologist Andrea Terán Valdez, in collaboration with the organizations DECOIN, GARN, CEDENMA, and the Jambatu Centre for Amphibian Research, filed a protective action to halt the Llurimagua mining concession on the grounds that it posed an imminent violation of the Rights of Nature. The petitioners argued that mining activities threatened several endemic frog species—most notably the Longnose Harlequin Frog and the Confusing Rocket Frog—as well as more than three dozen additional species, including multiple bird species, two monkey species, and the spectacled bear. They asserted that, under Ecuador’s constitutional protections for the Rights of Nature and its requirement of precaution in the face of scientific uncertainty, the mining project must be stopped.

On June 23, 2020, a Judge of the Cotacachi Canton ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and granted the protective action. The court found that the Ministry of the Environment had failed to adequately assess the environmental risks identified in the environmental impact study (EIS) and environmental management plan, and had not fulfilled its duty to safeguard species within the biologically rich cloud forests affected by the Llurimagua concession. The court cited Article 73 of the Constitution, finding that the imminent and serious risk to the rights of nature—specifically the rights to exist, maintain, and regenerate—required the immediate suspension of all administrative processes and any activity related to exploration or extraction within the Llurimagua concession (code 403001). The judge ordered that protective measures remain in force until an independent entity, such as the Ombudsman’s Office, verified beyond doubt that mining activities would not contaminate water sources or result in further destruction of native forest.

The government appealed, and the Imbabura Provincial Court of Justice issued its ruling in March 2023. The appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision, holding that the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition violated the Rights of Nature by approving an EIS that failed to adequately inventory species or address how the project would prevent endangered and potentially endangered species from becoming further imperiled. The court revoked the mining company’s environmental license and ordered that all mining activity cease until ENAMI EP completes a new environmental consultation process and produces a revised EIS and environmental management plan consistent with constitutional protections for nature.