Latin American Buen Vivir and Rights of Nature: Law, Human Rights and Sustainable Development

This refreshing account of wellbeing perspectives of Ecuadorian Good Living sheds a new light on sustainability debates. It puts into question the universality of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The slogan of the goals, Leave non-one behind, begs the question who is behind and who is ahead. Development is caught in the logic of linear sustainable growth of nations or centres around the flourishing of the individual instead of the community. Let Mother Earth lead summarizes the indigenous American approach, embracing a biocentric outlook on life where human laws and (environmental) governance systems must follow the laws of the earth. With concrete examples of policies, law, jurisprudence and practice from Ecuador, this book is a must read for philosophers willing to think beyond European philosophy, (development) economists interested in reshaping today's paradigms, innovative lawyers with an environmental heart, anthropologists who yearn for a dialogue between worldviews of the Global South and science, and all people who seek new meaning in today's society. See more