Plans to mine for copper and gold in a protected cloud forest were ruled unconstitutional by Ecuador’s Constitutional Court. Mining permits were obtained in Los Cedros, a protected region in northwestern Ecuador, in this case. The court argued that mining would impair the forest’s valuable and distinctive wildlife.
- Ecuador’s top court has ruled that mining in a protected area would harm the biodiversity of the forest. The area is home to spectacled bears, endangered frogs, dozens of rare orchid species, and the brown-headed spider monkey – one of the world’s rarest primates.
- Ecuador’s Supreme Court has ruled that mining and environmental concessions in the Los Cedros Forest must be canceled after a lawsuit brought by communities. The decision means that mining concessions, environmental and water permits in the forest have to be canceled. Enami EP, Ecuador’s national mining company, held rights for mining concessions that had been granted in two-thirds of the reserve.
- The region is one of the earth’s most biodiverse, with plants and wildlife found nowhere else on the planet. The verdict by Ecuador’s top court preserves the constitution’s protection of natural rights.
- The verdict, according to campaigners, is a watershed moment for Ecuador and the region, as numerous more mining and extraction projects are planned in ecologically sensitive areas. Ecuador’s new constitution enshrined environmental rights between 2007 and 2008.
- According to Natalia Greene of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature “This is a historic victory in favor of nature.” It is a non-governmental organization that argued the court to keep mining out of Los Cedros.
Dr. Mika Peck, a senior lecturer in biology at the University of Sussex, initially looked into the biological meaning of Los Cedros in the mid-90s and compares it to Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, a major work in the American revolution.
