Watch: CDER’s Hugo Echeverria Testify before Ecuador’s National Assembly Biodiversity Commission

8/17/2021

On August 17, the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) provided testimony to the Commission on Biodiversity of the National Assembly of Ecuador on the rights of nature and reformation of Ecuador’s Mining Law. Since 2019, CDER has been an active participant in legislative reforms to implement and enforce the rights of nature within the country’s environmental laws. 

CDER’s Ecuador attorney, Hugo Echeverria, testified before the Commission.

Hugo’s testimony can be found here, from 1:03:00 to 1:12:00 on the recorded stream. He testified on the need to set legislative standards on places where mining activities are to be prohibited or restricted, including fragile ecosystems and habitats of endangered species, so that the right of nature would be protected.

He also explained that articles 73 and 406 of the Constitution of Ecuador provide a basis to not only set legislative standards for prior consultation for mining projects, but also on their closing phases.