Does Nature Have Rights?

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet—a country about the size of Nevada that’s home to more than twice the number of plant and animal species as the United States and Canada combined. Yet its wild spaces—rich in gold, timber, and fertile soil for large-scale agriculture—are also among the world’s most threatened. In 2008, when Ecuador became the first country in the world to enshrine a revolutionary concept called the “rights of nature” in its constitution, conservationists gained perhaps their most powerful tool for protecting wild spaces. Today, that tool is being put to the test as advocates race to preserve habitats and the remarkable species they support.