Forest moralities, kindred knowledge and Sacha Runakuna : Kawsak Sacha as law

Rights of Nature or Pacha Mama (RoN), as recognised in the Constitution of Ecuador, are developed through an intercultural dialogue with Indigenous Peoples, encompassing various forms and senses of justice and nature conceptions. RoN has been embraced within their struggle and should support their legal instruments, such as the Kawsak Sacha or Living Forest declaration. This declaration serves as a legal and political tool for achieving self-determination and autonomy, with the Kichwa People of Sarayaku as legal and political actors, designating their territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon as 'a living and conscious being, the subject of rights.' In this article, I explore the interplay and sometimes conflicting relationship between RoN and Kawsak Sacha or Living Forest law, in which the Living Forest itself is the source of the law. Through co-theorization, ethnography, and scholar-activism, I delve into the legal foundations of Kawsak Sacha law, its collective intercultural and intercosmic translation into written textual form, and its enforcement grounded in forest moralities, kindred knowledge, and Sacha Runakuna – the Living Forest entities that shape the legal landscape within the territory of the Kichwa People of Sarayaku.