Colombia court case: rights of the Coello, Combeima, and Cocora Rivers

Summary

In 2011, a popular action (‘acción popular’) was filed by a regional human rights official against the Ministry of Environment and two mining companies, alleging that mining titles issued in the Combeima and Cocora rivers violated the rights of nature and collective rights to a healthy environment, given the rivers’ designation as areas of special environmental importance. In 2019, the Administrative Tribunal of Tolima initially recognized the Coello, Combeima, and Cocora rivers as subjects of rights and ordered measures for their protection.

During the appeal, however, the Council of State (which rules on whether a given administrative action complies with the law and the Constitution) reversed the rights-of-nature designation in September 2020, finding that the circumstances in this case differed from the Atrato River rights case precedent. Although the Court declined to recognize the rivers as rights-bearing entities, it determined that the mining titles posed a risk of environmental harm, particularly in the context of increasing water scarcity linked to climate change. The Court ordered the suspension of mining activities in the Combeima and Cocora rivers and conditioned any future resumption on the identification of exploration methods that would not affect the rivers. If no such methods exist, the mining titles would lose effect, and environmental authorities must carry out periodic oversight.

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