Ecuador court case: rights of the Tangabana páramo

Summary

In 2014, environmental activists and an indigenous pastorate filed a constitutional lawsuit for protective action against ERVIC S.A.—a private company represented by its general manager Jorge Enrique Holguin Gomez and owned by Carlos Rhor Romeno—for the placement of a pine tree plantation via a government reforestation program in the Paramo of Tangabana. The plaintiffs argued that the pine plantation violated the rights of the Paramo of Tangabana because it affects the existence and life cycles of the paramo. The plaintiffs also argued that the rights of defenders of nature were violated because “the community members have suffered physical and verbal attacks for exercising their defense of the rights of nature.” Judges denied the case and appeals repeatedly because the plaintiffs did not prove their ownership of the paramo and their evidence was not presented with respective testimony.