Pachamama worldview and the decolonial challenge of an emerging legal paradigm

• de Santana Gordilho , Heron José ^[1] ; Benaion Thevenin, Talita ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidade Federal da Bahia

     Universidade Federal da Bahia

     Brasil

     
• Localización: SAPIENTIA IURIS, ISSN-e 3045-6665, Nº. 5, 2026 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Sapientia Iuris - Número 5), págs. 64-74
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article analyzes the philosophical, legal, and political foundations that support the transition from the anthropocentric paradigm of domination to the institutionalization of the Rights of Nature. Based on the premise that the modern capitalist model has triggered a profound socio-environmental crisis, the study highlights the inadequacy of the concept of sustainable development, whose utilitarian ethics proves to be merely palliative. In contrast, an epistemological rupture emerges in Latin America, grounded in the indigenous worldview of Pachamama (Mother Earth), endorsed by the New Constitutionalism. The research is qualitative, with a historical-evolutionary approach, based on bibliographic and documentary analysis. Constitutional texts, critical legal doctrine, decolonial epistemologies, jurisprudence, and official sources were examined, with emphasis on the Constitutions of Ecuador (2008) and Bolivia (2009). The findings indicate that recognizing Nature as a subject of rights is not a mere extension of Environmental Law, but a paradigmatic shift that challenges the colonial foundations of legal dogmatics. The constitutionalization of the principles of Pachamama and Sumak Kawsay and Suma Qamaña in Latin American constitutions inaugurates a new pluralistic, ecocentric, and intercultural legal model, proposing the restoration of the relationship between humanity and Nature, with political, epistemic, and civilizational implications.