...[Indigenous people] have established rights, relating particularly to territory and the maintenance of their traditional ways of life. But for several decades the Ecuadorian government has allowed oil companies to set up drilling operations in the Amazon. Since 1987, a concessions has been granted for Block 14, currently operated by PetroOriental S.A., a subsidiary of the Chinese transnational corporations China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC)...

We have filed a constitutional complaint, an instrument designed to provide emergency protection in the event that constitutional rights are violated. The lawsuit instigated by our organisations condemns the impact of gas flaring and venting that contribute to climate change, which in turn threatens the ecological balance and the rights of affected populations. Upsetting the balance of the ecosystems underpinning the livelihoods of these peoples is a violation of the rights of nature (as protected by the Ecuadorian constitution) and threatens the rights to food, health, to a safe environment and the right to live with dignity. This lawsuit is the first ever to be filed against a company in the name of climate change in Ecuador.

The complaint calls for the gas flares to be shut down and for an end to gas burning and venting. The complainants call on the companies concerned to assume their share of responsibility for the damage caused by the local impact of the global phenomenon of climate change and to compensate for this...