account the inherent particularities of their indigenous identity in their relationship to the land, prior to the ratification of the said Convention, it assumed an international commitment to guarantee the right to consultation upon ratifying ILO Convention 169 in April 1998. Nevertheless, even after the collective rights of the indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian Peoples had been constitutionally recognized on the entry into force of Ecuador’s 1998 Constitution, the CGC initiated seismic survey activities in July 2002.225 That was when the State, through the Ministry of Energy and Mines, approved the updated Environmental Impact Plan submitted by CGC and prepared by a subcontractor of the latter, which had been approved initially in August 1997. According to the State, the plan was approved based on the Substitute Environmental Regulations for Hydrocarbon Operations. It has not been contested that the company opened seismic lines, established heliports, destroyed caves, and water sources and subterranean rivers that provided the community’s drinking water; cut trees and plants of environmental, cultural and nutritional value to the Sarayaku, and placed powerful explosives on the surface and in the subsoil of the territory (supra para. 105). 173. In addition, it has not been contested that another national norm had been in force since 1998, which established consultation mechanisms under the responsibility of the State (the 1998 National Human Rights Plan226 and the 2000 Investment Promotion and Public Participation Act227). It was not until after the company’s Environmental Impact Plan had been approved, and the reactivation of prospecting activities ordered that, in December 2002, the Regulations for Consultation on Hydrocarbon Activities were approved,228 the first article of which established: A standard procedure for the hydrocarbon sector for the application of the constitutional right of consultation of the indigenous peoples, who define themselves as nationalities and Afro-Ecuadorians regarding prevention, mitigation, control and rehabilitation related to the negative socio-environmental impacts and also the promotion of positive socio-environmental impacts resulting from the hydrocarbon operations on their lands, and the participation of the said Peoples and communities in the processes related to the consultations, the preparation of the environmental impact assessments, the environmental management plans, including the plans to promote community relations.229 225 Article 84 of the Constitution of Ecuador (Chapter 5: Collective rights, Section One: Indigenous, Black or AfroEcuadorian Peoples) stipulates that: The State must recognize and guarantee to the indigenous peoples, in accordance with this Constitution and the law, respect for public order and human rights, the following collective rights: […] (2) To conserve the perpetual ownership of the communal lands, which shall be inalienable, indivisible and not subject to embargo, unless declared of public utility by the State. These lands shall be exempt from the payment of property tax. (3) To maintain the ancestral possession of communal lands and to be granted them, without cost, in accordance with the law. (4) To participate in the use, enjoyment, administration and conservation of the renewable natural resources to be found on their lands. […] (6) To conserve and promote their practices for the management of biodiversity and their natural environment. (8) To not be displaced, as Peoples, from their lands. (9) To the collective intellectual property of their ancestral knowledge, to its assessment, use and development in accordance with the law. (10) To maintain, develop and administer their cultural and historical heritage. 226 Cf. National Human Rights Plan of Ecuador of June 18, 1998 (evidence file, tome 9, folio 5312). Article 8 establishes as a general objective: “4. To ensure that indigenous peoples are consulted before permitting projects for the exploration and exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources located on their ancestral lands and territories and to analyze the possibility of indigenous peoples participating equitably in the benefits arising from the exploitation of those resources, as well as their right to be compensated for the damage caused.” 227 Published in the supplement to Official Record No. 144 of August 18, 2000. 228 Cf. Executive Decree No. 3401 of December 2, 2002, Official Record No.728 of December 19, 2002 “Regulations for Consultation on Hydrocarbon Activities.” This refers to the times at which the consultation must be carried out; the purpose of the preliminary pre-bid consultation with indigenous peoples, who identify themselves as nationalities and Afro-Ecuadorians; the purpose of the consultation prior to execution of indigenous peoples who identify themselves as nationalities and AfroEcuadorians; the purposes of the consultation; the decisions and agreements in the consultation with indigenous peoples, who identify themselves as nationalities and Afro-Ecuadorians; the compensation owing to the social and environmental harm caused by the hydrocarbon activities; the formalization of decisions and agreements with regard to the consultation on execution with indigenous peoples, who identify themselves as nationalities and Afro-Ecuadorians, and the phases of the implementation of hydrocarbon activities in which consultation is required prior to execution (evidence file, tome 8, folios 4130 and ff.) 229 In addition, article 7 of Executive Decree No. 3401 requires that: “both the consultation with the peoples who identify themselves as indigenous nationalities and Afro-Ecuadorians, and the public consultation shall be carried out: (a) prior to the call for bids issued by the agencies in charge of the hydrocarbon bidding processes, which shall be known as prebid consultation, and, (b) prior to the approval of the environmental impact assessment for the implementation of hydrocarbon activities, in accordance with Article 42 of this Regulation, which shall be known as the pre-implementation consultation.” In addition, article 8 establishes that: “[t]he purpose of the pre-bid consultation of indigenous peoples, who 48