David Fajardo Torres is a lawyer and political scientist from Cuenca, Ecuador. He is an advocate for the rights of Nature, including the rights of the human species. He is a member of the Cabildo por el Agua de Cuenca (Cuenca Water Council) a platform bringing together organisations, communities and individuals to defend water and the ecosystems from which it originates, such as the Kimsakocha moors, against activities that put them at risk, primarily mining. He is also a member of YASunidos, a collective campaigning to halt oil exploitation in the Yasuní, one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet; and of Kuska, Defensoría Popular de los Pueblos y la Naturaleza (Kuska, People’s Ombudsman for Peoples and Nature), a legal activism collective that advises, supports and accompanies social organisations, NGOs and communities in their efforts to defend their fundamental rights and the rights of Nature, including cases of criminalisation of human rights defenders.
David Fajardo Torres asserts that to guarantee and protect human rights, it is necessary to protect and guarantee the rights of Nature at the same time; and that it is urgent for human systems to adapt to natural systems through a process of transition from an anthropocentric model to an ecocentric model built upon social, ecological, climate, gender, intercultural and intergenerational justice, and all their intersections. David firmly believes that it is possible to build a world where many worlds can coexist.
