Le decisioni della Convenzione Costituzionale cilena in materia ambientale: tra un futuro modello di costituzionalismo e una nuova forma di Stato

Chile’s Constitutional Convention decisions on the environment: between a future model of constitutionalism and a new form of state.

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to question the possibility that the proposed new Chilean Constitution, despite the negative outcome of the exit plebiscite, contained some provisions aimed at identifying not only a future model of environmental constitutionalism, or a new phase of the same, but also a form of State that goes beyond the social and democratic State under the rule of law. To this end, firstly, a comparative analysis will be carried out with the fundamental norms of Ecuador and Bolivia, which are characterised by an evident “ecocentric” approach and the peculiar definition of nature as a subject of rights, also referring, albeit only in broad outline, to their application and interpretation by jurisprudence. Finally, we will focus on the centrality that the ecological issue has assumed in the Chilean constitution-making process and in the resulting text in order to highlight the reasons why this text is considered significant for environmental constitutionalism, so much so that it has become a “forerunner” in this matter.