While some countries struggle to uphold human rights, Ecuador has forged ahead and ruled wild animals have the right to exist.
The February 7-2 court ruling was a landmark interpretation of the country's rights of nature and raised the legal status of nonhuman animals.
In America, the rights of nature sounds like a fringe idea, but people don't realize how mainstream it is around the world.
The sad case of a woolly monkey named Estrellita led to the ruling. After being Illegally taken from the wild, Estrellita came to live with Ana Beatriz Burbano Proa and her family at just one month old. She learned to communicate with the family through gestures and sounds.
Estrellita was seized by local authorities and died within a month of being relocated to a zoo.
Burbano filed a case to get Estrellita back after hearing of her death.
The case relied on evidence of the cognitive and social complexity of woolly monkeys to argue that Estrellita should have the right to bodily liberty.
The authorities and Burbano were found to have violated Estrellita's rights for failing to consider her specific needs before relocating her and for removing her from the wild.
The court wants new legislation to be drafted to better protect these rights in the future.
The domestication and humanization of wild animals are phenomena that have a great impact on the maintenance of the environment and the balance of nature.
Last year, a landmark ruling in Ecuador found that mining in a protected cloud forest violates the rights of nature.
The rights of nature were recognized at a constitutional level in 2008.
The rights of nature were included in the constitution, but it wasn't clear whether individual animals could benefit from the rights of nature.
Some US cities have treaties with other provinces that give them the same protections for wild animals. In many places around the world, attempts to protect nature remain life threateningly dangerous, as countries have yet to codify such rights at constitutional levels.
The ruling makes it clear that the rights to exist, flourish, and evolve are within the context of ecological processes. They don't equate animals to humans but still give them the right to be free.
Hunting, fishing, gathering, and forestry are allowed as long as they are carried out in ways that limit suffering and are performed within other pre-existing laws.
Environmental law doesn't care about animals that aren't considered important species, such as the US Endangered Species Act.
Our world is connected by this bridge between the two areas. It only takes one unfortunate interaction with a wild animal to cause a big problem.
The climate crisis and six mass extinction are linked by our attitudes and actions towards the life we share our planet with.
In a world where environmental destruction is touching so many of us personally, such laws could help steer us as individuals and societies into making better choices that could benefit us all.
The laws are proving to be an important legal tool to protect nature.
The full ruling can be found in English and Spanish.
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