Abstract

This essay reviews the legislative references developed in the Plurinational State of Bolivia on the rights of Mother Earth starting from 2009, the year its new political constitution was approved. Notions such as “Vivir Bien” and “Pachamama” are fundamental in this context, as is the issue of the plurality of Indigenous Peasant Originals in the country. ese legislative innovations have attracted the interest of various researchers, due to both their complexity and their contradictions. To account for such special features, this text outlines the main approaches to the rights of Nature and the advances that various studies have demonstrated in their findings. It then analyzes some formal tensions present in the legislative bodies associated with the issue, and then reviews the main contradictions and environmental pressures observed despite (and due to) the application of these sets of norms. Finally, this essay suggests some challenges for the Plurinational State of Bolivia regarding the rights of Nature in the immediate future.