Ecuador Constitutional Court Case: mining in the Nangaritza River

Summary

On 18 June 2019, lawyer Darwin Andrés Riera Duchitanga (plaintiff) filed a protection action against the Ministry of the Environment (MAE), Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources (MERNNR) and the Regulation and Control Agency Miner (ARCOM). The plaintiff alleged that the mining concessions issued within the Forest and Protective Vegetation Area of the Upper Basin of the Nangaritza River in the province of Zamora Chinchipe, violated the rights of nature, given that the area is part of the Podocarpus-El Cóndor biosphere reserve and the Cerro Plateado biological reserve.

The judge offered the immediate inspection of the area and the mining titles granted in it, and determined that the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources must implement a system that allows better control of protected areas and forests of protective vegetation. However, ACROM did not present any information despite having been requested by the judiciary. Therefore, the plaintiff filed an appeal. The provincial court denied the appeal and annulled the ruling of the judge since it considered that, in the case, there was no violation of constitutional rights.

In October 2019, Darwin Andrés Riera Duchitanga submitted an appeal to the Constitutional Court, which selected the case, stating that “With the selection of this case, the Court could develop the standards and limits of use of protected areas, the rights of nature in situations of extraction activities near protected areas and the responsibilities of the entities in charge of carrying out monitoring and monitoring of said activities.

In 2021, Earth Law Center, Center for Biological Diversity, and Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), submitted amicus curiae briefs before Ecuador’s Constitutional Court in the Nangaritza River case.

Ecological Context
The Upper Nangaritza River Basin Protected Forest is internationally recognized as a high biodiversity region and provides water to local communities throughout the Zamora-Chinchipe province. It also provides essential habitat to numerous species at risk of extinction. Mining concessions granted to Lundin Gold, Sulcomi SA, and Green Rock Resources covers 75 percent of the surface area of the Protected Forest, placing this unique and essential ecosystem in tremendous danger.

Over a span of 20 years, the government has promoted mining concession in approximately one fourth of the territory.

Involved Organizations