On 7 July 2024, a ruling of a court in Ecuador found that pollution breaches the rights of the Machángara River running through Quito, and the city government must initiate a plan to restore the river. In the action brought by activists, including the Kitu Kara indigenous people, it was shown that the rights of the river were affected and violated, and the municipal government of Quito is responsible for this. The river flows from the Andes Mountains through Quito, and suffers from the dumping of effluents, contaminants and improperly treated wastewater. With low oxygen levels of approximately 2%, it is challenging for aquatic life to thrive in the conditions of the river, causing damage to the ecosystem.
Finding in favour of the applicants, the judge held that the non-treatment of 98% of the wastewater that enters the river from Quito violates the rights of the river, and the municipal government is responsible for restoration. Although the city government has appealed the ruling to the Provincial Court, in the interim before appeals are decided, the government must create a recovery plan and collaborate with civil society to progress their plans. In a step towards decontamination, a strategy was approved by the municipality which focuses on developing three new wastewater treatment facilities.
The case sits in the context of the Constitution of Ecuador, which protects the rights of nature (interpreted to include rivers), “Nature, or Pacha Mama, where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions, and evolutionary processes. All persons, communities, peoples, and nations can call upon public authorities to enforce the rights of nature.” This Constitutional provision facilitates findings of rights violations should nature be negatively affected and impacted through damaging acts. As a result of this protection, similar cases to vindicate the rights of nature have come before the courts in Ecuador in the past, including a Constitutional Court case on the Aquepi River, which had its rights violated by the Ministry of Water.
The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature commented on the ground-breaking nature of the findings for the Machángara River, “This decision represents a breakthrough in the protection and decontamination of one of the most vulnerable rivers in the country.”
Click here to watch a video briefly describing the outcome of the Machángara River judgment.
To read the Aquepi River Constitutional court decision, click here.