Ecocentric twist: from the Environmental Law to the Ecological Law

This paper analyzes the controversies about the recognition of nature as a subject of legal rights. It will analyze the theoretical proposal of an Ecological Law, in opposition to an Environmental Law, tracing its main features. In the context of the debate, this article understands that the ecological law is a natural change in the very concept of law itself, which is shown on a, nonlinear, evolution of law, and in the various theories that have served law as support for legitimizing and justifying it. The environmental law, the current paradigm, comes forth as a result of internal changes of the larger paradigm of modernity, will be critically analyzed in its dysfunctions and operational deficiencies. After that, this paper will redeem the historical debate about the rights of nature, including demonstrating that it is not new, dating back the doctrinal concerns about the rights of nature to previous seasons to the Constitution of Montecristi. In conclusion, this work shall set out the proposed Ecological Law as a viable and necessary solution to practical problems that put humanity in grave existential danger.