Mother Nature Gets Her Day in Court

Ecuador and Bolivia granted legal rights to the environment within the past few years. But what are those rights and can they really be enforced?
"The rights of nature laws recognize the rights of ecosystems and natural communities to exist, to flourish, to regenerate, and to evolve," Mari Margill, associate director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), told Discovery News. CELDF helped Ecuador write the rights of nature into legal reality.
"The rights of nature laws move nature from being considered 'property' under the law to being recognized as 'rights bearing' under the law," said Margill.
But laws are nothing but ink on paper if not enforced. A court case in Ecuador showed that these Earth friendly laws have claws and aren't just idealistic public relations legislation.
Article 71 of Ecuador's constitution acknowledged the rights of the environment in 2008. The first court case to test the strength of these rights was held March 30, 2011. Two plaintiffs presented a constitutional injunction to halt a road project which deposited rock, tree trunks and other debris in the Vilcabamba River. The plaintiffs stood in for the damaged ecosystem in court, much like a legal guardian stands in for a child. The local provincial court found in favor of the environment and upheld the injunction. 
Continued:Discovery News