Courts, rights of rivers and the city: insights from Ecuador

Urban rivers promote habitats, support ecosystems, and provide human access to water, but also face contamination, especially due to inadequate wastewater treatment. The Ecuadorian constitution of 2008 expanded environmental rights to include rights of nature. We analyse the judicial decision on the River Monjas in Quito, Ecuador in which rights of rivers were articulated through an anthropocentric lens that links rights to the city with rights of nature, including rights to a healthy environment, water, heritage, and sustainability. However, by focusing responsibility soley on the city, the Monjas case was limited in its ability to promote a broader ecosystem framework.