"Ecuador: Guerreras por la Amazonía demand the elimination of gas flares five years after landmark ruling", 29 July 2026

...Amnesty International joins the call from the Guerreras por la Amazonía (GxA, Women Warriors for the Amazon), who, five years after securing a landmark ruling requiring Ecuador to eliminate oil industry gas flares located near populated areas and provide reparations to affected communities, continue to demand its full implementation...

According to figures from Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Energy (MAE), there were 486 gas flares in the Ecuadorian Amazon in 2023. Of these, 424 were operated by the state-owned company Petroecuador and 62 by private companies.

The ruling ordered their progressive elimination by 2030, beginning with those located near populated areas. These flares were supposed to be eliminated within 18 months, a deadline that expired on 29 March 2023...

In July 2026, Petroecuador reported that it had eliminated 183 gas flares and committed USD 600 million to continue the decommissioning process. By the end of 2025, only nine of the 62 flares operated by private companies had been eliminated...

In July 2026, Amnesty International verified, using World Bank data, official documents and interviews, that at least three gas-flaring sites located within five kilometres of the homes of members of the Guerreras por la Amazonía—and of populated areas more broadly—remain active...

Petroecuador’s official plan provides for the elimination of 13 gas flares in 2026, 60 in 2027, 60 in 2028, 50 in 2029 and 54 in 2030.

However, Pablo Fajardo, a lawyer representing the claimants and a member of UDAPT, warned that they have identified new flares and that only a new nationwide study would make it possible to determine clearly how many remain active.

Petroecuador has stated that compliance with the plan depends on operational conditions and the possibility of losses in oil production...