The complaint was filed before an Ecuador´s Court because this is “the only country that recognizes nature as a subject and protects its rights in the Constitution”, according to the complaint. The Court accepted the demand and now will decide on its jurisdiction.

The complaint was filed by environmentalists Vandana Shiva (India) and Nnimmo Bassey (Nigeria, President of Oil Watch and Friends of the Earth International´s Chair), who have been awarded with the “Alternative Nobel Prize” in 1993 and 2010 respectively. Cecilia Cherrez (Accion Ecologica-Ecuador), Ana Luz Valadez (Mexico) and Alberto Acosta (former President of Ecuador´s Constituent Assembly) also participated.

“The spill affected the ecosystem in an immeasurable way, and the measures after the spill worsened the effects”, said Esperanza Martinez, member of Accion Ecologica, in an interview with Real World Radio.

The claim establishes that they are not looking for economic redress, but their aim is to make the case of BP and Deep Water Horizon platform an example of the need to change the energy system at world level.

“In the US, for instance, there have been claims to protect the rights of fisherfolks or the people directly affected”, said Esperanza, “but so far nobody has protected the rights of Nature itself. This is the aim of this legal action”.

Another aim is to obtain information, which the company intends to hide, both in terms of its past and future actions.

The plaintiffs demand “BP and other oil companies to stop deep water exploration” and the US to reestablish a moratorium on explorations in the Gulf of Mexico. They also highlight the need of “breaking with the colonial logic of rights that doesn´t allow us to claim our rights and those of Pachamama (Mother Earth) in formal spaces and confines us to alternative spaces such as Opinion Courts” that are not legally binding for transnational corporations.

Photo: www.accionecologica.org