Globe and Mail
Date: October 11, 2008
Byline: Zoe Cormier

Ecuador has become the first nation in the world to grant constitutional rights to the natural environment.

On Sept. 28, the country voted for a new constitution that - among changes to education, social security and elections - gives many of the same rights to rivers, forests, plants and animals as it does to people.

"Natural communities and ecosystems possess the unalienable right to exist, flourish and evolve," the legislation states. "... It shall be the duty and right of all Ecuadorean governments, communities and individuals to enforce those rights ... [and] every person, people, community or nationality will be able to demand the recognition of rights for nature."

Therefore, people do not have to claim damage to themselves or their property in order to file a claim against those that harm the environment.

"As a constitutional measure, this is groundbreaking," says Theresa McClenaghan of the Canadian Environmental Law Association.

But the motivation may be far more practical than sentimental: Ecuador has often been stuck with the bill to clean up the mess left by foreign oil and mining companies. It is still trying to extract compensation from Texaco, which it accuses of dumping more than 17 million tonnes of petroleum waste into the rain forest in an area known as the "Amazonian Chernobyl."