Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

On January 22, 2025, the indigenous community of Tintaya Marquiri, located in the province of Espinar, in the department of Cusco, filed a complaint with the Superior Prosecutor's Office of the National Coordination of Specialized Prosecutor's Offices for Environmental Crimes against the Antapaccay mining company , a subsidiary of the Swiss transnational corporation Glencore, which they accuse of being responsible for serious environmental damage in their territory.

On March 31, 2025, the Fifth Court, Specialized in Constitutional Matters of Lima issued a ruling in favor of the Institute for Legal Defense of the Environment and Sustainable Development of Peru (IDLADS Peru), ordering the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI) and the National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) to comply with the obligations established in Supreme Decree No. 003-2022-MINAM, which declares a climate emergency in Peru, approved in 2022.

The legal action filed in 2020 by the Puerto Franco Native Community and the Kichwa Ethnic Council of the Amazon (CEPKA) sought to protect their right to communal property, including access to and control of their natural resources within their territory, as well as the right to prior consultation regarding administrative acts and measures.

On January 11, 2024, the Peruvian Congress published in the Official Gazette El Peruano Law No. 31973, a law that resulted from Bill 649-2021-CR (and others of a similar nature) with which:

1. Articles 29 and 33 of the Forestry and Wildlife Law - Law No. 29763 - are amended, referring to the procedure and competence to establish permanent production forests and to approve forest zoning.

On July 29, 2022, nine residents of St. Ann filed a constitutional lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Jamaica against the Government for granting a bauxite mining license to Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners, Noranda Jamaica Partners II and New Day Aluminum Ltd.

Among the main arguments, they pointed out that the companies' activities negatively affected their lives, health, livelihoods, and the environment.

In 2021, several indigenous organizations promoted an action of unconstitutionality, seeking to expel from the Ecuadorian legal system Decree No. 95, known as "the oil decree", which proposes a transitional public policy in which the control and management of strategic sectors pass from the hands of the State to private capital, through participation contracts.

In 2021, a group of indigenous organizations promoted an action of unconstitutionality seeking to expel from the Ecuadorian legal system Decree No. 151, known as the megamining decree, which proposes a more lax policy of permissiveness for the environmental and water authorization of medium and large scale mining projects in Andean and Amazonian territories within Ecuadorian territory, combined with the concept of “strategic project” related to the sovereignty over natural resources of the Ecuadorian government.

In 2018, the Mayor of the Cotacachi canton and the Judicial Attorney of the Municipality of Cotacachi filed a protective action against the Minister of the Environment and the General Manager of the National Mining Company of Ecuador (ENAMI EP), for the granting of the environmental registration of the Río Magdalena Mining Project (made up of two concessions), which would allow the mining of metallic minerals within the Los Cedros Protected Forest, which is declared as an “area of Protected Forest and Vegetation”.

On March 11, 2024, the representative of the community of San Bartolo Coyotepec in the State of Oaxaca filed a petition for amparo (a constitutional protection action) alleging a violation of their human right to a healthy environment due to the failure of municipal, state, and federal authorities to protect Benito Juárez National Park and the Ecological Reserve Zone and Protected Natural Area.

The Supreme Court of Justice of Panama, in a ruling of November 27, 2023, declared Article 1 of Law 406 of October 20, 2023, unconstitutional.

This law approved the mining concession contract between the Panamanian State and the company Minera Panamá, SA, and granted exclusive rights for the exploration, exploitation and extraction of gold, copper and other minerals in the area of "Cerro Petaquilla", located in the district of Donoso, in the province of Colón, Panama.