Rights to clean air in the Ecuadorian Amazon

This two-year project builds on a collaboration with Acción Ecológica, with a focus on the Amazon region of Ecuador. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of Indigenous peoples and rural communities to defend their human rights in relation to the severe health impacts caused by gas flaring at nearby oil fields.

Despite a landmark 2021 court ruling in the “Mecheros case” – brought forward by nine Amazonian girls – which ordered the phase-out of gas flaring near populated areas, implementation has stalled. State oil companies argue that harmful emissions only spread within 100 metres of the flares, contradicting findings from AirClim’s 2024 pilot study showing pollution dispersing far beyond that limit. This programme supports local actors in ensuring that the ruling is respected and that their communities are better protected.

The programme focuses on three core objectives:

1. Empowering local organisations and communities with tools to engage decision-makers and participate in air-quality investigations linked to the Mecheros ruling.
2. Strengthening scientific capacity to monitor air pollution from gas flaring and to generate evidence that supports community rights.
3. Contributing to national debates on climate adaptation, mitigation, and a just transition away from fossil fuels, enabling communities to submit policy proposals to the government.

Key activities include a participatory air pollution study in six communities, installation and training on air-quality monitoring equipment, community workshops to discuss results, a thematic workshop on the links between oil extraction and climate change, and targeted advocacy to support environmental justice in the Amazon.

The full name of the project is ”Supporting human rights related to clean air and climate adaptation in Amazon” and is financed by SIDA.