Provincia de Orellana Ecuador
On December 10, 2020, members of the Waorani Nation and non-governmental organizations promoted a protection action before the Judicial Unit in the Amazon region, because the Chinese oil company PetroOriental SA was contaminating ancestral territories and violating their constitutional rights, due to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) that cause climate change.
The petitioners alleged that climate change was causing irregular and unpredictable flooding, disruptions to natural plant cycles, loss of ancestral knowledge, droughts, and other climatic phenomena. They further stated that the Chinese-owned company PetroOriental, which operated within Block 14, had caused significant environmental damage through the constant and unnecessary flaring of gas, making them particularly vulnerable to its effects.
The lawsuit alleged that the flares contributed to climate change and, consequently, to the disruption of the Waorani people's way of life in Miwaguno due to the local impacts of climate change on their territory. The plaintiffs demanded that the company assume its share of responsibility for contributing to climate change and repair the damage caused by the local impact of this global phenomenon.
Based on provisions of the Ecuadorian Constitution, the National Environmental Law, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the plaintiffs emphasized that the defendant had violated several human rights, including: (i) the right to nature, since GHG emissions alter the carbon cycle; (ii) the right to enjoy a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, given that climate change disrupts the ecological balance; (iii) the right to food, because the plaintiffs have seen their food security and food sovereignty diminished; (iv) the right to water, because droughts and floods are becoming more extreme and unpredictable, limiting access to, quality of, quantity of, and availability of water; (v) the right to health, because the scarcity of food and traditional medicines affects the well-being of the plaintiffs; (vi) the right to land and territory, because the claimants' ability to enjoy natural resources through ancestral practices has been limited; and (vii) the right to life and a dignified life, because the claimants' existence is threatened and the minimum conditions for continuing their life projects are not met.
The plaintiffs requested that the court (i) declare that the aforementioned constitutional rights had been violated, (ii) order the prohibition of gas flaring in the area where the defendant operates, and (iii) order the defendant to make amends by financing community-designed projects to adapt to the impacts of climate change in their territory.
On July 15, 2021, Judge Cuacal Galarraga did not admit the constitutional action, since the plaintiffs had not sufficiently demonstrated how the actions of the defendant violated the rights of nature or any constitutional right derived from them.
The plaintiffs pointed out that the GHG emissions carried out by the defendant company in Block 14 contributed to the loss of the ecological balance, which was a right of Nature, but was also related to the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, guaranteed in the Constitution.
The action highlighted, among others: (i) the right to nature; (ii) the right to enjoy a healthy and ecologically balanced environment; (iii) the right to food; (iv) the right to water; (v) the right to health; (vi) the right to land and territory; and (vii) the right to life and a dignified life. They emphasized that the Waorani Nation had seen its environment and way of life altered, as its subsistence was threatened as a consequence of climate change, and that the loss of harmony with nature prevented them from existing as indigenous peoples.
Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects every organism in the biosphere, including humans. The effects of this phenomenon on people vary primarily depending on their geographic location, but other factors also influence how different populations experience the effects of climate change. For example, the effects are different for a coastal population threatened by rising sea levels than for an Amazonian community experiencing disruptions to natural cycles.
- Members of the Waorani Nation
- Chinese oil company PetroOriental SA
The Waorani Nation is an indigenous community located in the Ecuadorian Amazon, specifically in the Tiputuni River basin and in the area of influence of the Yasuní National Park and the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, one of the areas with the greatest biodiversity and the greatest social/environmental conflict due to oil exploitation in Ecuador.
For years they have denounced serious impacts on their ancestral territories due to the oil activity of the company Petroriental (block 14 and 17), including pollution from flares (gas burning) that affect the air, water and their crops and for damage related to climate change and the loss of their natural balance.
The community has faced difficulties, including the effects of flooding and the need for humanitarian aid after severe winter seasons, representing a key case of indigenous resistance against the expansion of the oil frontier in the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve.
International agreements/treaties
- Paris Agreement
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
- American Convention on Human Rights
- ILO Convention 169
National laws
- Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador
- Organic Law of Jurisdictional Guarantees and Constitutional Control
Beginning
- Principle of prevention
- Principle of reversal of the burden of proof
- Principle of intergenerational equity
This record was created using publicly available information. If you have information about this case or would like to suggest updates or corrections, please click here .