Summary
In 2011, the Administrative Court of Tolima recognized the Coello, Combeima, and Cocora rivers as well as their basins and tributaries as “individual entities, subject to rights to protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration by the State and the communities,” in response to a lawsuit that showed the high degree of contamination of the river ecosystems. The Court appointed a commission of guardians composed of two guardians and advisors from civil organizations and NGOs which must establish a plan to ensure the protection, recovery, and proper conservation of the ecosystems.