- Ecuador’s Constitutional Court struck down a controversial decree that tried to reform how environmental consultations for large-scale infrastructure projects are carried out with communities.
- Environmental and Indigenous groups had filed a motion with the court, calling the decree unconstitutional, and the court agreed, saying consultation processes can only be regulated through an organic law issued by the National Assembly, not through an executive decree.
- However, in a rare move, the court also deferred its ruling, allowing the decree to remain in place until after the National Assembly creates the needed laws.
- Lawyers say the ruling doesn’t clear up the confusion, and the multiple interpretations of the Constitution, that lie at the heart of Ecuador’s consultation processes.
On Nov. 17, Ecuador’s highest court ruled in favor of Indigenous and local communities by rejecting a controversial decree that promised to shape how environmental consultations are carried out.
Decree 754 was signed in May by then-president Guillermo Lasso, less than two weeks after he dissolved the country’s parliament, the National Assembly. The regulation was a means to facilitate the consultation process necessary to grant environmental licenses for large-scale infrastructure projects, but it quickly became controversial and caused conflicts in communities where the government tried to apply the environmental consultation for large-scale mining projects, only to be met with resistance from local farmers.
Indigenous and environmental organizations filed a motion with the Constitutional Court, arguing the regulation and the way it was approved, through a presidential decree, violated the Constitution. Last month, the court struck down the decree, saying consultation processes can only be regulated through legislation passed by the National Assembly, not through executive decree.