After years of issues in court, the ruling to side with the indigenous people will be very beneficial to them, and hopefully set a future precedent for the country. With the increase in mining activity in Ecuador, foreign companies witnessing this ruling will have a better understanding of their obligations to the environment of Ecuador. It is a pleasure to see that a large corporation will have to suffer the consequences for their wrongdoing. Smaller countries don’t often receive compensation from corporations using them for their own gain, especially in such large settlements. Moving forward, I hope that this becomes a normality amongst all corporations setting up shop in foreign countries to avoid environmental protection.
Even with this tremendous victory, the damage done to their environment can’t be cleaned up overnight. The damage that Chevron caused to their environment severely affected their water source for drinking, bathing, and cooking. (Mongabay) As they are still awaiting for their water sources to be clean, they installed rainwater collection and filtration systems to supply them with clean water and have even installed solar panels to use as a power system to avoid fossil fuels.
There are many communities and individuals using these forests for nature-based tourism, a sustainable activity with an enormous potential that Ecuador has not yet fully realized. The profit that mining will bring to Ecuador is undeniable, but the cost of that profit bears a heavy toll. Tourism can be beneficial to Ecuador without causing nearly a fraction of harm to the economy that comes from mining.
Ecuador Environment and Indigenous Rights 
