Dr. David Suzuki has, for years, brought his own appreciation of the value of nature to Canadians. Now, he's gone on what he's calling an Andean adventure. Suzuki has taken a closer look at what he says are new ideas and new ways to value nature in both Ecuador and Bolivia. Often provocative, always enlightening, this time Suzuki tells of a place where nature has constitutional rights and where a government is urging the world to pay to keep a rainforest untouched.

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David Suzuki's Andean Adventure

Eleanor Geer Huddle and Richard Frederick Wheeler believed road work near their property in Ecuador violated the rights of nature. So, the U.S. couple decided to protect the river running through their land by going to court. It was the first case to successfully invoke Ecuador's special constitutional rights for nature. Their story is highlighted in the upcoming documentary David Suzuki's Andean Adventure. It airs on The Nature of Things next week.

The film looks at how two Latin American countries - Ecuador and Bolivia - may be leading the way in environment protection, despite sitting on lucrative natural resources. Ecuador is the first country in the world to grant constitutional rights to nature. And it's floating an even more audacious idea. It wants to leave a vast reserve of oil beneath the ground. And it hopes the international community will pay to keep it there.

David Suzuki joined us to talk about what he discovered on his trip to South America. He was in our Vancouver studio.

David Suzuki's Andean Adventure will air on The Nature of Things on CBC TV on Thursday January 10th at 8:00pm.

Here is a link Yasuni-Itt raising money to protect the forest

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This segment was produced by The Current's Josh Bloch.

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10th Anniversary Interview: Robert Croke