The Pachamama or Nature as a Subject of Rights. Asymmetries in the “Buen Vivir” from Latin America Constitutionalism

Abstract

Within the framework of constitutions identified as “neoconstitutio-nal”, of the so-called “democratic constitutionalism for Latin America” or the “Andean constitutionalism”, diverse forms of protection for na-ture, Mother Earth or Pachamama as a subject of rights have flouris-hed in juridical systems. Although they’re three different readings with divergent approaches, they all converge in devising ways of protecting the Earth. The adoption of these protections has been made possible through constitutional and democratic assemblies that were tinged with the influence of indigenous movements, despite the violence to which their culture and ethnic diversity has been subjected to throughout the centuries. Analyzing the asymmetries and disparities in the adoption of these new radical forms of protection is of utmost importance, whether they be found in constitutional and legal texts or in sentences built on a hermeneutic that’s capable of reading (without arrogance and through a compassionate, less anthropocentric bias) the struggles and move-ments of the disenfranchised and underprivileged who claim for the protection of La Casa.