On 23 April 2025, the Agro-Environmental Court of Bolivia granted precautionary measures in an environmental case surrounding the recent illegal killing of five jaguars, ordering protection measures for both the jaguar and its habitat and for environmental defenders. It also identified seven people who require enhanced protection because of their involvement in similar complaints and because wildlife trafficking is linked to international criminal networks, and included other defenders who come forward in the process. The case was filed on February 2025 by Congresswoman María René Álvarez in response to the illegal hunting of at least five jaguars in the San Matías Natural Area, Santa Cruz. The complaint points to an international poaching network linked to the Argentine Jorge Néstor Noya and the Spanish businessman Luis Villalba Ruiz, the latter wanted by the Bolivian justice system. Various civil society organizations and the Office of the Attorney General of the State and the Ministry of the Environment and Water (MMAyA) joined the application. Other state institutions, such as National Customs, the Armed Forces, and the Police contributed by presenting information related to their functions. However, the Vice Presidency of the State objected, questioning the competence of the Court and the legitimacy of Deputy Álvarez and requesting that the request for precautionary measured be declared inadmissible.
The decision of the Agro-Environmental Court includes provisions addressed to different State institutions, including the Ombudsman’s Office, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Bolivian Police, the Ministry of Justice and Transparency, the Ministry of Government, the Supreme Court of Justice. While their compliance is pending, the Ombudsman’s Office is preparing an appeal for complementation and amendment to clarify the deadlines for compliance.
The favorable decision of the Agro-Environmental Court sets an important precedent for environmental defense in Bolivia, applying the Escazú Agreement and the Bolivian Constitution, to guarantee their rights to life, integrity, free expression, participation and association, in the face of threats, harassment or improper use of public force. According to data from the Observatory of Rights Defenders of UNITAS, there have been 16 violations against environmental defenders in 2024.
The environmental action for precautionary measures carried out is novel in terms of strategic litigation. The resolution of the Agro-Environmental Tribunal generated a legal provision that, among others, establishes: prevention of attacks, threats and intimidation for environmental rights defenders; the preparation by the Office of the Ombudsman of a National Plan of Action for the recognition, protection and promotion of the rights of human rights defenders in environmental matters; the creation of a National Jaguar Conservation Fund to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly; the ecological pause for fires and clearings throughout the national territory or the ecological pause for extractive anthropic activities within national, departmental, municipal and indigenous protected areas. If properly implemented, this decision could be the beginning of a line of jurisprudence in Bolivia that allows the recommendations of international human rights organizations to be enforced, reinforcing the protection framework for environmental defenders and victims of ecological crimes.