Last week, a court in Ecuador ruled that the rights of a river had been violated by pollution coming from the country’s capital city. Rio Machángara begins in the Andes and runs through Quito, where 2.5 million people live. The court decided that the city had breached the rights of the river by failing to treat 98 percent of the wastewater that’s being dumped into it.
Ecuador’s constitution recognizes that nature, including rivers, has rights to protection and restoration. All people and communities are empowered to enforce those rights. The complaint was filed by the Kitu Karu Indigenous people. Although the city has appealed, the judge ruled that it must still devise and implement a comprehensive plan to address the pollution. The river is a critical source of water and an ecological corridor. The contamination, such as solid waste, severely diminishes oxygen levels that aquatic life needs.
Several countries in Latin America grant residents constitutional rights to a clean environment, but as EuroNews reports, Ecuador recognizes that nature has a right not to be degraded or polluted.
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