Extractivism haunts the planet and leaves in its path the pain and tears of people who, ironically, suffer the blessing of mineral wealth. Extractivism produces invaded territories, dispossessed communities, persecuted leaders, devastated forests, annihilated biodiversity, desiccated lagoons, poisoned rivers, undrinkable waters, and unbreathable air. Ecuador, the country with the greatest biological diversity on the planet per square meter, has also been devastated by extractivism. In this planetary penumbra, the Rights of Pacha Mama or Rights of Nature in the Andes and in Ecuador are a spark that can be fanned. Pushed by indigenous peoples, ecologists, and intellectuals, in 2008 the Constituent Assembly recognized the Pacha Mama or Mother Nature as the holder of rights, and many historic fights have followed. In this talk Yaku Pérez Guartambel will present insights from his new publication Climate Emergency and the Ecology of Hope.

Presented in Spanish with English interpretation

Yaku Pérez Guartambel is a Kichwa Kañari leader, lawyer, teacher, and author of nine books. He has led historic legal proceedings in defense of the rights of nature in the Andes and the Amazon. For this work, he was detained six times and has also been the target of kidnappings and an attempted murder. He has dedicated thirty years to ecosocial fight in Ecuador for indigenous communities’ access to water, including as president of the Confederation of Kichwa Peoples of Ecuador (ECUARUNARI) and as the leader of a social movement that impeded water privatization in Ecuador. As a political leader, he has been elected the Prefect of Azuay Province and was a presidential candidate in Ecuador in 2021 and 2023 with a post-extractivist agenda focusing on the defense of water.