Congratulations to local communities in Ecuador’s Intag Valley, who have won a huge victory in the Imbabura Provincial Court that will protect their livelihoods, sources of freshwater, and threatened wildlife. The court recently ruled that the Llurimagua large-scale copper mining project violated local communities’ constitutional right to consultation and the rights of nature, which are enshrined in Ecuador’s constitution. The license for the mining project was revoked and all work on the project must stop. Local communities in Intag have been resisting mining projects in the cloud forests where they live for nearly 30 years, and their latest hard-fought victory has global implications. Intag Valley is in the Tropical Andes, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, harboring more species than even the Amazon. Intag Valley also makes up part of the Intag-Toisan Key Biodiversity Area, a place that scientists have identified as critical for the persistence of biodiversity on Ea...