From Constitutional Recognition to Administrative Practice: Environmental Impact Assessment and the Rights of Nature

Study Finds Major Gaps in Environmental Assessment for Proposed Amazon Copper Mine Under Ecuador's Rights of Nature Framework Ecuador was the first country to constitutionally recognise Nature as a subject of rights, yet the practical implementation of those rights remains contested. This paper applies a Rights Impact Assessment (RIA) using the Essential Variables for the Rights of Nature (EVRoN) framework to the proposed Warintza copper mining project in the Ecuadorian Amazon and evaluates whether the project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) provides the evidence needed to assess compliance with constitutional Rights of Nature obligations. The assessment identifies substantial gaps between the evidence base presented in the EIA and that generated through the EVRoN framework. The analysis documented approximately 1,697 species compared with 848 species reported in the EIA and identified 50 Population-Risk Constitutionally Imperilled Ambassador Species requiring population-level consideration. Additional evidence was identified relating to ecosystem processes, hydrological connectivity, evolutionary heritage, and biocultural relationships that are relevant to Rights of Nature assessment. The paper argues that the EIA's project-scale approach does not fully address several risks that operate at broader ecological scales, including low-probability, high-consequence scenarios associated with a proposed 1.0-1.1 billion m³ tailings storage facility and downstream impacts extending across Amazonian river systems and into Peru. Using Rights Impact Assessment, the study concludes that significant uncertainties remain regarding biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and biocultural impacts, raising questions about whether the available evidence is sufficient to demonstrate compatibility with Ecuador's constitutional Rights of Nature framework. The paper proposes Rights Impact Assessment as a practical method for translating constitutional Rights of Nature obligations into environmental decision-making.