In a defining moment for the Amazon and other forests, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador has agreed to hear the case of the threatened Los Cedros Protected Forest and potentially set a worldwide precedent for the protection of the environment.
In 2008, Ecuador was the first country to enshrine the rights of nature into its constitution, providing legal recognition for nearly 2.5 million hectares of protected forests. Although there have been previous attempts to enforce this, this case is a battle of the heavyweights: the Constitutional Court taking on the government, in the guise of state-registered mining company ENAMI.
