"Plans to mine Ecuador forest violate rights of nature, court rules", 03 December 2021

...Ecuador’s highest court has ruled that plans to mine for copper and gold in a protected cloud forest are unconstitutional and violate the rights of nature.

In a landmark ruling, the constitutional court of Ecuador decided that mining permits issued in Los Cedros, a protected area in the north-west of the country, would harm the biodiversity of the forest, which is home to spectacled bears, endangered frogs, dozens of rare orchid species and the brown-headed spider monkey, one of the world’s rarest primates.

Enami EP, Ecuador’s national mining company, held rights for mining concessions that had been granted in two-thirds of the reserve. The decision means that mining concessions, environmental and water permits in the forest must be cancelled...

“This is a historic victory in favour of nature,” said Natalia Greene of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, an NGO that argued for the court to keep mining away from Los Cedros...

Campaigners said the ruling set an important marker across Ecuador and the region, where several other mining and extraction projects are planned in ecologically important areas...

The Guardian has contacted Enami EP for comment...