The two courses to the recognition of the rights of nature in Latin America

Resumo

Last years' constitutional, legal and jurisprudential experiences point to two paths into the recognition of Rights of Nature in Latin America. This work collects the key features of this process which is over a decade old. First, the path pursued by Ecuador's Constitution and Bolivian legislation is developed which recognise the rights of nature; in consequence, national, provincial and local law bills were issued across the countries of the region. Second, some cases that recognise rights to certain ecosystems using arguments that revisit the law in an ecocentric way are dealt with. Our thesis holds that this expanding process of rights implies of environmental justice since it brings back knowledge and practices absent in this field; it establishes new figures such as river guardians and it stops the North-South knowledge and legal tools unidirectional production adding worlds where the institution is not exclusively human.