Ecuador Constitutional Court Case: Cuembí Triangle Protective Forest

Summary

In 2020, representatives of different local and indigenous communities in the Sucumbíos province, Putumayo canton, El Carmen de Putumayo, Palma Roja, and Santa Elena filed a public action of unconstitutionality against Ministerial Agreement No. 080 issued by the Ministry of the Environment, for violations of the constitutional rights of their communities and nature. This case refers to the unconstitutionality of articles 1 to 8 of the Agreement, which declare the area called Cuembí Triangle within the Sucumbíos province as Forest and Protective Vegetation. The Agreement implied the militarization of the ancestral territories of Kichwa communities and the prohibition of the ruling of lands to possessors settled in the area.

The Constitutional Court declared that the agreement is unconstitutional for violating the rights of Indigenous peoples. It said the agreement could serve a legitimate purpose, but a consultation process is imperative. The Court declared that although environmental conservation and the protection of the rights of Nature a noble goal, it cannot be achieved at the cost of the denial of the rights of peoples, communities and nationalities. Instead, it must be achieved in harmony with these rights.