The judges of the International Rights of Nature Tribunal issued an oral verdict on Friday afternoon, January 12, in which they declared:

1. That the current Chilean forestry model has provoked ecocide in the territory and against all living beings that inhabit it, human and non-human;
2. That the forestry model violates the Rights of Nature and even the weak environmental protection regulations existing in the country;
3.  It has verified the absence of the Chilean State in the regulation and control of the existing regulations, which they also declared to be completely insufficient;
4. That the actions of the large forestry companies violate the Rights of Nature;
5. The State of Chile is urged to recognize the Rights of Nature in its internal regulations, as the only way for the survival of humanity and biodiversity, and to promote a plan to overcome the current forestry model;
6. A plan of restoration and integral regeneration is urgently demanded, worked on with the communities and in the local territory;
7. The declaration of a moratorium or prohibition of the establishment of invasive and pyrophyte species in the territory is demanded;
8. It considers Queule, the Nahuelbuta mountain range, the Cayumanqui hill, and the Biobío river, among other elements of Nature, as subjects of inherent rights that are recognized and protected by the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, which must be recognized, guaranteed and respected by the State of Chile.

The initiative of the XI Local Tribunal in the Biobío case against the Forestry Model was organized by the International Rights of Nature Tribunal and convened at the local level by the Alliance for the Rights of Nature of Biobío, composed of various organizations, including Red por la Superación del Modelo Forestal, Entramas por el Biobío, NGO We Kimün and NGO Defensa Ambiental; and, at the international level, by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN).

You can find more information about the session by clicking here.

To access the hearing, click here.

To access the reading of the verdict, click here.

Under this set context, as predicted by previous large-scale events such as that of 2017, during the summer of 2023 a firestorm spread covering around 326,000 hectares between the regions of Ñuble and Araucanía. Of the burned area, 61.3% corresponds to forest monoculture and 9.4% to native forest. Specifically in the Biobío region, a specific event – “Santa Ana”- burned a total of 112,622 hectares, which includes 60% of the commune of Santa Juana and more than 40% of the commune of Nacimiento.

Bearing in mind the proximity of the summer of 2024 and the threats and risks of fires, the affected communities and victims have evaluated various ways to be able to face these fires. These have mainly involved the reparation of the affected human communities, but no reparation or preventive measures have been adopted with respect to Nature. Thus, in the Chilean legal system there is no guarantee or specific legal mechanism related to the recognition and visibility of the violation of the rights of nature in our environment, from a biocentric perspective.

Therefore, the audience of the local Tribunal for the Rights of Nature means an opportunity that allows, on one hand, the strengthening of the local organizations and communities as well as to recognize the rights of the Biobío River, the Nahuelbuta mountain range and Queule – a National Monument – all affected by the fires and the monoculture of pine and eucalyptus trees.