Colombia Supreme Court Case: Rights of the Amazon

Summary

In April of 2018, the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice, following the example of the Atrato River case, declared the Colombian Amazon as “an entity subject to rights, entitled to protection, conservation, maintenance and restoration by the State and the territorial entities that comprise it.” The plaintiffs, who were 25 children and youth from across Colombia, argued that the government’s failure to curb deforestation violated their constitutional rights to a healthy environment, life, health, food, and water, as well as the rights of future generations. Their case was supported by DeJusticia, a Bogotá-based human rights and environmental law organization.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court mandated the State to take immediate and coordinated action to halt deforestation by formulating an “intergenerational pact for the life of the Colombian Amazon,” requiring national and local authorities to develop a time-bound action plan for conservation and restoration. The court also ordered the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture to revise land-use policies and strengthen enforcement mechanisms against illegal land conversion. Following the decision, data from Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) showed a slight reduction in deforestation in 2018, with 138,000 hectares of the Colombian Amazon forest lost, a figure down nearly 20% from the previous year.

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