“EL NUEVO MARCO JURÍDICO EN MATERIA AMBIENTAL EN ECUADOR. ESTUDIO SOBRE EL CÓDIGO ORGÁNICO DEL AMBIENTE”.

The Ecuadorian legislation on environmental issues was dispersed during decades, with few efforts to codify it. Since the Environmental Organic Code entered into effect, Ecuador has a specific and updated norm which is in coherence with the constitutional dispositions, that tend to guarantee a healthy environment and the protection of the rights of the nature. The paper analyzes national and international literature related to the structure of the new Code, and makes a critical study of each chapter of this new law. The results of the analysis show some wise choices made by the Ecuadorian legislator who provided an updated instrument that contains the Ecuadorian paradigm of a new model of development, well-being or “Sumak kawsay”; on the other hand, there is still evidence of a centralized model dependent on the National Environmental Authority linked directly to the President, also there is a lack of development of the concept of the rights of the nature, which means that the legislator lost a unique opportunity, as the Constitution established that the Environmental Organic Code was supposed to be the adequate form to develop this concept. The innovation of this analysis is that this is the first time a legal study of the Ecuadorian Environmental Code is done; moreover, it opens diverse lines to debate about the implementation, possible reforms and opportunities that this law could bring to the conservation of the environment in a megadiverse country like Ecuador. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]