%0 Article %A Grijalva Jimenéz, Agustín %I Universidade FUMEC, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Sociais e da Saúde %D 2011 %T Regime constitucional da biodiversidade.: Patrimônio natural, ecossistemas frágeis e recursos naturais. %U http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=4057558 %X Sovereignty in the Ecuadorian Constitution is formulated in relative terms. This means that the power of the state is externally limited by international law, internally limited by the Constitution, and particularly by the rights it establishes. Additionally, it should be noted that the holder of sovereignty is not the government but rather the people, who exercise sovereignty through a complex of public bodies with specific constitutional powers and by means of direct citizen participation. These assumptions have important consequences on the environment since it implies that no government may violate environmental constitutional and international rights on the grounds that it is exercising sovereignty over natural resources. The constitutional limitations on sovereignty are exemplified clearly in the case of the ban on exploitation of nonrenewable natural resources in protected and intangible areas. Although the Constitution allows for exceptional development of mining activities in these areas, it establishes rigorous standards and procedures to ensure formal and material constitutional validity of a decision by public authorities in this regard. In any case, these acts of public authorities, like all regulations, are subject to constitutional control before and after their adoption. In the case of intangible areas where people live in voluntary isolation, the Constitution directly weighs rights and outlaws any economic activity in the area, further establishing the priority of the physical and cultural survival of indigenous peoples. Another consideration of rights directly made by the Constitution is related to the right to water, while explicitly prioritizing sustainability of ecosystems and human consumption. Also in the case of private property and community biodiverse areas, the Constitution imposes an environmental function on the property, and in that regard, subject to an institutional system under its stewardship. In other situations where environmental constitutional rights may conflict with other constitutional rights, it is necessary to analyze the matter through a careful process whether based on law or constitutional jurisprudence. To this end, one has to bear in mind that the Ecuadorian constitution gives equal status to these rights and considers them as mutually complementary, and thus any regulation to a right must be made on the basis of the proper exercise of another right, and the largest possible exercise of all rights. In any case, any limitation must be reasonable, proportionate and necessary. In general, the principle of constitutional rights effectiveness determines that the institutional structure and the procedures established under the Constitution in fact constitute the means of exercising rights rather then mechanisms to justify their violation. The application of this criterion on environmental matters is essential for the consolidation of truly functional institutions with respect to environmental protection. Development is certainly a goal that the Constitution recognizes and encourages, but conceptualized not only as economic growth but as a comprehensive and sustainable economic activity, which requires either a means of exercise of rights, which not only ensure the availability of natural resources for future generations, but also the preservation, reproduction and development of nature as being valuable in itself, beyond the immediate and direct effects of environmental damage on human beings.