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This paper considers political and cultural factors that played a formative role in a recent move by Ecuador to include key environmental provisions designed to protect ecosystems by recognizing Pachamama (“Mother Earth”) in its 2008 Constitution. International headlines were quick to announce that Ecuador granted “constitutional rights” to Nature. The indigenous people of Ecuador have an intimate relationship with Nature, and this cultural legacy drives their vision for the future. Their political expression is grass-roots driven, and while international influences exist, a persistent non-Western relationship to Nature persists and may explain this unprecedented action. This paper begins with practical considerations on the value and effectiveness of environmental provisions in constitutions, and then examines key environmental provisions in Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution. It will be suggested that Ecuadorian culture and politics have contributed to this important eco-centric step, and that Ecuador may be working toward a perfect place for Mother Nature to thrive—Mother Nature’s utopia!
|Keywords:||Ecuador, Pachamama, Mother Nature, Constitutional Rights for Nature Environmental Rights, Sustainability|
Associate Professor and Ph.D. Program Director, Graduate Studies, Alvernia University, Reading, PA, USA
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