Colima State (Mexico) Constitutional Amendment: rights of nature

Summary

In June of 2019, the State of Colima in Mexico adopted a constitutional amendment incorporating the rights of nature into the State Constitution. The constitutional amendment establishes that nature, including all ecosystems and species, is a collective entity with the fundamental right to exist, to restoration, to the regeneration of its natural cycles, and to the conservation of its ecological structure and functions. The constitutional amendment establishes that the protection, preservation, and recovery of biodiversity, natural ecosystems, genetic heritage, and native species are a joint responsibility of the public, private, and social sectors.

Discussions for the amendment began as early as 2018, when Colima’s local environmental organizations and legal scholars initiated public forums on ecological governance and the global rights of nature movement. During these consultations, experts from Earth Law Center (ELC) and Empoderamiento Climático presented comparative data from Ecuador and Bolivia, where national constitutions already recognized the rights of Pachamama (Mother Earth), demonstrating how similar frameworks could be adapted in Colima. They also referenced data from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) showing that Latin America had experienced a 94% decline in species populations since 1970—one of the steepest regional losses globally. Colima is no exception to this biodiversity loss. According to the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), Colima had lost nearly 30% of its original tropical forest cover by 2018, and data from Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) indicates that over 40% of Colima’s river basins show signs of moderate to severe contamination from industrial discharge and inadequate wastewater treatment.

The amendment was introduced to and approved by Colima’s State Congress. It then required a majority vote from Colima’s municipal councils, where all 10 municipalities of Colima unanimously ratified the measure. Colima joins the Mexican governments of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Mexico City, which have also legally recognized the Rights of Nature.

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