Constitutionalism of Nature : Tensions Between Rights of Nature Defenders and Ecuadorian Constitutional Court

In 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to recognize the rights of nature (RoN) in the Constitution. Seventeen years later, it is necessary to analyse the work carried out by nature defenders and Ecuadorian Constitutional Court to develop jurisprudential lines about the foundations, content, and limits of RoN. This research has two objectives. On the one hand, we will identify the historical periods in which nature defenders filed the most lawsuits demanding protection and reparation of Nature at the Constitutional Court and the responses they have received. On the other hand, this research will explain the periods in which the Constitutional Court issued the most jurisprudential lines to explain the foundations, content, and limits of RoN and the degree of judicial independence that has existed in each composition of judges of the Constitutional Court from 2008 to 2025. This analysis will allow us to understand whether Ecuador has a Constitutionalism of Nature, that is, a Constitution and constitutional jurisprudential development that materializes Nature as a subject with rights and not a commodity.