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Can Rights of Nature Make Development More Sustainable? Why Some Ecuadorian lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail

Identification

Public canonical key
doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.017
Authors
Craig M. · Pamela L.
Reported year
2017
Reported language
en · eng
Source type
Article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:04:47.501093+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00
Last HTTP verification
Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Coastal Carolina University · University of Oregon

Reported affiliation countries

US

Documentary abstract — original language

Summary In 2008, Ecuador became the world’s first country to include rights of Nature (RoN) in its constitution. The constitution presents RoN as a tool for building a new form of sustainable development based on the Andean Indigenous concept sumak kawsay ( buen vivir in Spanish), which is rooted in the idea of living in harmony with Nature. While much is written on the ethical arguments regarding RoN (and buen vivir), few studies analyze how RoN might be implemented. We fill this gap by explaining why some efforts to apply Ecuador’s RoN laws succeeded while others failed. We compare 13 RoN lawsuits using an original framework for analyzing the pathways and strategies RoN advocates (and their opponents) use to build (and counter) momentum behind judicial processes meant to buttress the enforcement of contested RoN norms. The case descriptions and analysis draw on primary documents and in-depth interviews conducted during 2014–15. Through process tracing, we identified key structural conditions and strategic decisions shaping the outcomes in each case. Our findings as of 2016 reveal unexpected pathways of influence involving a symbiotic process among civil society, state agencies, and the courts. Surprisingly, civil society pressure was the least successful pathway, as activists lost high-profile lawsuits. Nevertheless, they facilitated judicial momentum by working on less-politicized local cases and training lower-level judges. Instrumental use of RoN laws by the state produced unintended consequences, including establishing precedent and educating judges. Knowledgable judges are unilaterally applying RoN in their sentencing, even when neither claimants nor defendants allege RoN violations. Ecuador’s cases demonstrate how “weak” RoN laws can strengthen, providing important insight into the global contestation over sustainable development and the strategies and legal tools being used to advance a post-neoliberal development agenda rooted in harmony with nature.

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.017
OPENALEX
W2565684084
OPENAIRE
doi_dedup___::8f49b7194dbf5631d5b1d8ec1aaca40e

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
Article · article
Source jurisdiction labels
Ecuador

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

Publisher / institutional publication record · Record 1

Documented bibliographic relations

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

134 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.

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Not recorded
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Not recorded
Publisher
Not recorded
DOI
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ISBN
Not recorded
Official identifier
Not recorded
Source URL
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Source-reported status
Not recorded
Amendment / repeal
Not recorded

Cite this reference

Craig M.; Pamela L.. Can Rights of Nature Make Development More Sustainable? Why Some Ecuadorian lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.017

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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
Craig M.; Pamela L.. (2017). Can Rights of Nature Make Development More Sustainable? Why Some Ecuadorian lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.017
Chicago
Craig M.; Pamela L.. Can Rights of Nature Make Development More Sustainable? Why Some Ecuadorian lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.017
ISO 690
Craig M.; Pamela L.. Can Rights of Nature Make Development More Sustainable? Why Some Ecuadorian lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.017

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. Can Rights of Nature Make Development More Sustainable? Why Some Ecuadorian lawsuits Succeed and Others Fail. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-eecafc472e216bcc1a81b5c158fb82fc/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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Field provenance and record version

Version 0d6d81a0bc30727f · udtr-reference-1.1.2

Title
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00
Authors
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained.
Year
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained.
Jurisdiction
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.501093+00:00
Identifiers
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained.
Source URL
OpenAIRE · source · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00
Source-reported author ORCID
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00

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

df9e898a65ada11a · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00

065b1cce262d15ac · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00

77ca0aeba99f80fe · 2026-11-09T19:06:44.931711+00:00

3f04aaec5112b7d0 · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00

0d6d81a0bc30727f · 2026-11-10T16:58:51.186184+00:00

Frozen-version metadata

Research dossiers and documentary relations

Coastal Carolina University

University of Oregon

Craig M.

Pamela L.

Source roles

Discovery source · https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.017

Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W2565684084

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

Documentary status

Documentary validated

Library

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UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library