UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

THE PERSONHOOD OF RIVERS IN ECUADOR. USING THE CASE ANALYSIS METHOD

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.31338/2544-3135.si.2025-109.9

Authors

Andrés Martínez Moscoso · Israel Castro-Enríquez

Reported year

2026

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.665122+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:06:50.402287+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Documentary abstract — original language

This paper studies the legal recognition of rivers as subjects of rights in Ecuador through a case study methodology, focusing on two landmark rulings by the Constitutional Court involving the Aquepi and Monjas Rivers. This study highlights the importance of demonstrating how Ecuador’s constitutional framework has evolved from symbolic recognition of the rights of nature to concrete judicial enforcement. Using a qualitative legal analysis, the article explores how ecological flow and the interdependence of environmental and human rights serve as the basis for the legal personhood of the rivers. The Aquepi case led to the creation of a water protection area, while the Monjas case prompted a combination of gray infrastructure and nature-based regulatory measures. These cases underscore that Ecuador’s ecocentric constitutional model is pioneering, and the recognition of nature’s rights is often contingent upon their connection to human rights. Ultimately, the study concludes that enforceability remains the greatest challenge for the sustainability of such rulings.

Identifiers

DOI

10.31338/2544-3135.si.2025-109.9

OPENALEX

W7167933816

OPENAIRE

doi_________::25b2dc51425b72968e2c333fcc63fb91

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article · article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

EC

Natural entities mentioned

River

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

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.31338/2544-3135.si.2025-109.9
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7167933816

Documented bibliographic relations

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

• openalex:w2773235892 · CITES
• Rights of Nature: Rivers That Can Stand in Court · CITES
• Nuevos sujetos de derecho: un estudio de las decisiones judiciales más relevantes · CITES
• Nature as an Ancestor: Two Examples of Legal Personality for Nature in New Zealand · CITES
• openalex:w4285331927 · CITES
• Los dos caminos del reconocimiento de los derechos de la naturaleza en América Latina · CITES
• Derechos bioculturales: perspectiva filosófica · CITES
• Los derechos de la naturaleza en la jurisprudencia de la Corte Constitucional Ecuatoriana. Reconocimiento y evolución histórica · CITES
• Rights of nature and rivers in Ecuador’s Constitutional Court · CITES
• An ecological citizenship's triumph · CITES
• Struggling for the recognition of river rights: A case of hydrosocial territorialization of the Atrato River in Colombia · CITES
• openalex:w4403169709 · CITES
• Courts, rights of rivers and the city: insights from Ecuador · CITES
• Ríos como Titulares de Derechos en el Perú: A Propósito de la STC Exp. N.º 00010- 2022-0-1901 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

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