Does the water-energy-food nexus approach exist in Ecuador’s constitutional mandate?
The integrated management of natural resources: water-energy-food, must be a constant for more efficient use of resources, and this synergy is evident in the three elements of the Nexus Approach. These interconnections cannot be distanced from human rights, as they are the common thread for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals and the interactions that may arise between water-energy-food. This paper addressed the constitutional anchor to determine whether elements of the nexus approach are present. It concluded that, although the constituent assembly members of 2008 did not formulate the creation of the Constitution from the Nexus approach, the constitutional norm does develop elements such as economic sovereignty, of which food and energy sovereignty is part; in addition, the human right to water is established as an autonomous right and identifies the different uses of water avoiding a possible conflict over its use, clarifying which are the interactions of the water resource with sectors such as food and energy. This requires the mandatory application of the constitutional mandate, allowing the projection of its requirements on the entire Ecuadorian legal system, in order to make the Constitution a reality in its aspect of guaranteeing fundamental rights linked to the environment, as well as sustainable economic development, aligned with the fulfillment of the SDGs.
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| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | spa |
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Centro de Derecho Ambiental, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Chile
2021
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| Online Access: | https://revistaderechoambiental.uchile.cl/index.php/RDA/article/view/64036 |
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| Summary: | The integrated management of natural resources: water-energy-food, must be a constant for more efficient use of resources, and this synergy is evident in the three elements of the Nexus Approach. These interconnections cannot be distanced from human rights, as they are the common thread for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals and the interactions that may arise between water-energy-food. This paper addressed the constitutional anchor to determine whether elements of the nexus approach are present. It concluded that, although the constituent assembly members of
2008 did not formulate the creation of the Constitution from the Nexus approach, the constitutional norm does develop elements such as economic sovereignty, of which food and energy sovereignty is part; in addition, the human right to water is established as an autonomous right and identifies the different uses of water avoiding a possible conflict over its use, clarifying which are the interactions of the water resource with sectors such as food and energy. This requires the mandatory application of the constitutional mandate, allowing the projection of its requirements on the entire Ecuadorian legal system, in order to make the Constitution a reality in its aspect of guaranteeing fundamental rights linked to the environment, as well as sustainable economic development, aligned with the fulfillment of the SDGs. |
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