Environmental crisis and the rights of nature: a view from the political ecology

Abstract

The environmental crisis that began during the Industrial Revolution and that has worsened since the last 50 years of the XX Century, has produced deep changes in the Planet. It has being proposed that we are facing a new geological era: the Anthropocene. The extraction of natural resources and the mobilization of materials and energy is the result of a predatory economy of the industrialized countries to their ancient colonies. In this context, the human right to a healthy environment and free from pollution is not enough, nor is the concept of sustainable development. In that sense, the Constitution of Ecuador made a radical change, when it recognizes rights to nature and makes the Sumak Kawsay the road that we must transit to improve our relationship with our environment. This implies that economic activities must respect the right of the maintenance and regeneration of the vital cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes of nature.