Chile: ecocide included in propositions for new constitution

The constitution of Chile is currently undergoing revision, with a Constitutional Assembly charged with the addressing, drafting and compiling of the new text.  It is anticipated that the new revised Constitution will be considered and adopted in June of this year.  

A proposal for a “constitutional norm” regarding rights of nature and ecocide has been submitted to this process by the advocacy group Chile Sin Ecocidio and has been endorsed by 10 members of the Constitutional Assembly.

The background to the proposal states that “the crime of Ecocide should be recognised as a way to reinforce the constitutional protection of Nature, and a law will typify and penalise as a crime of Ecocide the serious, extensive or lasting damage caused to the environment.”  

The proposal would have the state recognise Nature as an “active and passive subject of law” and calls for a law that “shall define and penalise the crime of Ecocide”, defined in alignment with the Independent Expert Panel (2021) as “any unlawful or wanton act perpetrated knowing or ought to know that there is a substantial likelihood that it will cause serious, extensive or lasting damage to the environment