Public Interest Climate Litigation in Latin America Leading the Way in Addressing Climate Change? The New Focus on Ecocentric and Intergenerational Dimensions

In recent years, strategic litigation has established itself as a fundamental instrument in the defence and promotion of environmental rights in international law. Within this context, this article aims to characterize climate litigation in the Global South, specifically in Latin America. To achieve this, it analyses a series of cases illustrating innovative legal responses in Latin America being directed towards enhanced environmental and human rights protection in the region. The first part explores the phenomenon of climate litigation and its reception in Latin America, distinguishing between strategic litigation and public interest litigation. It concludes that, with some nuances, climate litigation in Latin America falls under the category of environmental public interest litigation. The second part analyses key judicial decisions, which have established significant precedents in terms of their transnational effects, allowing the consolidation of concepts such as intergenerational justice and ecocentric dimension in regional litigation.