Climate Litigation Cases in Latin America and the Caribbean

On January 11, 2024, Greenpeace Netherlands and eight citizens of the island of Bonaire sued the Dutch State for violating the rights of the inhabitants of the Caribbean island of Bonaire by not adequately and promptly assuming its responsibility to curb climate change.

On June 29, 2026, the Honduran Institute of Environmental Law (IDAMHO) filed an appeal for protection of constitutional rights with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice against the resolution issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (SERNA). This resolution authorized the third renewal of the environmental license for Phase 1 of hydrocarbon exploration, which includes 2D seismic surveys, gravimetry, and seabed sampling in the Honduran 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.

Citizens, fishermen, merchants and people from indigenous communities of Pajapan, Veracruz, from the Pajapan Beach, Veracruz affected by an oil spill on the coasts and Laguna del Ostión, supported by the Regional Indigenous Movement in Defense and Respect for Life and the Human Rights Center of the peoples of Southern Veracruz "Bety Cariño" filed an indirect amparo lawsuit against discriminatory acts towards the Nahuatl peoples and their ancestral commercial activities.

In September 2025, Nuestro Futuro AC, along with allied organizations and individuals, filed an injunction in Sonora on behalf of the whales that inhabit, migrate, and reproduce in the Gulf of California. This unprecedented action in Mexico seeks to have the courts recognize whales as subjects of rights and, consequently, grant enhanced legal protection to their habitat. The lawsuit was accepted by a federal judge, allowing the whales to formally become plaintiffs in the proceedings.

In August 2024, a group of female fisherwomen, accompanied by the Tsikini AC organization from the State of Colima, filed an injunction against various authorities, including the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), for the damage caused by the Manzanillo Thermoelectric Power Plant (the second largest thermoelectric plant in Mexico, which uses fuel oil and gas), alleging the violation of the human right to a healthy environment, to health, and the lack of compliance with climate commitments.

In late 2021, Oceana Mexico filed a lawsuit alleging that the Mexican Congress had failed to create effective general regulations for the restoration or recovery of depleted or overexploited fish species. The lawsuit argued that the General Law on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture was ineffective.

In 2004, the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Guatemala granted a mining exploration license to the company EXMIBAL, which was later transferred to the Guatemalan Nickel Company SA

The mining license was granted in 2006 without adequate consultation with the community. This, along with the presentation of the Environmental Impact Study only in Spanish and not in the Q'eqchi' Mayan language, led to a series of legal and social conflicts.

Two Guatemalan companies, Oxec SA and Oxec II SA, oversaw a pair of hydroelectric dam projects planned for the Cahabón River. Both companies are owned by Energy Resources Capital Corporation, registered in Panama. Local Indigenous communities reported that they were not formally consulted and expressed concern that the dams would damage their environment and violate their rights.