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Documentary registry of records detected across the scholarly, legal and institutional infrastructures monitored by UDTR.

A global documentary infrastructure designed to achieve the broadest verifiable and scientifically defensible coverage of the Rights of Nature.

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The Machángara River Goes to Court

Identification

Public canonical key
doi:10.1017/pub.2026.10234
Authors
Marta Echavarria · Maribel Pasquel · Margaret Stern
Reported year
2026
Reported language
en
Source type
article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:04:47.673952+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00
Last HTTP verification
Not checked

Documentary abstract — original language

Abstract The landmark Rights of Nature case for the Machángara River in Quito, Ecuador, is examined. Long degraded by untreated wastewater, industrial discharges, and urbanization, the Machángara River became the focus of a citizen-led lawsuit supported by scientists, academics, and indigenous representatives. In 2024, an Ecuadorian court recognized the river as a rights-bearing entity and ordered the municipality to implement a 27-point restoration plan. The case demonstrates how Rights of Nature offers a more effective legal strategy than traditional loss-and-damage claims, correcting power asymmetries, expanding legal standing, and shifting the burden of proof from plaintiffs to authorities responsible for environmental protection. The ruling catalyzed public awareness, institutional learning, and political commitments, culminating in a November 2025 pledge by the mayor to clean Quito’s rivers by 2040. It also sparked new governance structures, such as community groups tasked with monitoring compliance, and encouraged discussion of nature-based solutions despite municipal resistance. The Machángara case highlights the potential of Rights of Nature to transform urban environmental governance by integrating science, community action, and legal innovation, positioning Quito once again as a global reference in watershed protection.

Identifiers

OPENALEX
W7204962636
DOI
10.1017/pub.2026.10234
OPENAIRE
doi_________::ffa6e92358bfb4c26461fb35bcc9f142

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
Article · article
Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources
EC
Natural entities mentioned
River · Watershed

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAIRE · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary field provenance

Source-backed values and values with unresolved provenance are kept separately. Bibliographic provenance validates no legal claim.

Title
Documentary source reported
Publication
Documentary source reported
Authors
Documentary source reported
Document type
Documentary source reported
Jurisdiction
Studied subject derived from explicit documentary context
Court
Not recorded
Issuing authority
Not recorded
Publisher
Not recorded
DOI
Documentary source reported
ISBN
Not recorded
Official identifier
Not recorded
Source URL
Documentary source reported
Source-reported status
Not recorded
Amendment / repeal
Not recorded

Cite this reference

Marta Echavarria; Maribel Pasquel; Margaret Stern. The Machángara River Goes to Court. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2026.10234

JSON · CSL-JSON · BibTeX · RIS · CSV · JSON-LD ·

APA, Chicago, ISO 690: bibliographic formats using available fields. OSCOLA / Bluebook: structured data only; full legal citation compliance is not claimed without verification of required elements.

APA
Marta Echavarria; Maribel Pasquel; Margaret Stern. (2026). The Machángara River Goes to Court. https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2026.10234
Chicago
Marta Echavarria; Maribel Pasquel; Margaret Stern. The Machángara River Goes to Court. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2026.10234
ISO 690
Marta Echavarria; Maribel Pasquel; Margaret Stern. The Machángara River Goes to Court. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2026.10234

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. The Machángara River Goes to Court. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-6a0b7dbe01e937f6f0bc8a8a93726418/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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Field provenance and record version

Version a2e4f8cf714e6957 · udtr-reference-1.1.2

Title
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:05:30.085265+00:00
Authors
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:05:30.085265+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained.
Year
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:05:30.085265+00:00
Identifiers
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:05:30.085265+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained.
Source URL
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:05:30.085265+00:00
Source-reported author ORCID
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:05:30.085265+00:00

History tracks record metadata and does not certify the state of the law.

6e399de611eef8fa · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00

4abadedad0ab04ea · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00

5c2d74490ea7ee6d · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00

a2e4f8cf714e6957 · 2026-11-09T19:06:33.894352+00:00

Frozen-version metadata

Research dossiers and documentary relations

EC ·

Margaret Stern

Maribel Pasquel

Marta Echavarria

Source roles

Discovery source · https://doi.org/10.1017/pub.2026.10234

Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W7204962636

An authority link alone does not verify a legal claim. Abstracts and full texts remain subject to their source terms.

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library