Author(s): G. Eslava Bejarano
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Abstract: In 2017, a group of 25 children and young people from 17 cities and municipalities in Colombia filed a lawsuit against the State for failing to stop deforestation in the Amazon region. The plaintiffs come from some of the most vulnerable locations to climate change, ranging from coastal areas to high altitudes. The plaintiffs filed a tutela action, a special legal mechanism to protect fundamental rights. They claimed that the high deforestation rate in the country and its connection with climate change was threatening their right to life, health, access to water, and food and thus it was violating their right to a healthy environment. According to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), the state agency tasked with producing environmental data in the country, the main source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Colombia is deforestation. The most recent national inventory indicates that 36% of emissions come from deforestation alone. By 2017,40% of early deforestation warnings were located in the Amazon rainforest. While climate change impacts are already being felt throughout the country, future generations of Colombians will disproportionately face the burden of climate impacts as a result of emissions today. Between the period of 2041 to 2070, Colombia will experience a 1.6°C increase in average temperatures and a range of impacts including changes in rainfall patterns, droughts, and severe flooding. Deforestation will also change the water production of the paramo – the ecosystem that provides water to the capital. Through evapotranspiration, the rain produced in the Amazon is transported to Los Andes and when it reaches the mountains it becomes the water 70% of Colombia’s population drinks every day. The lawsuit is supported by the intergenerational equity principle as well as the principle of solidarity. In April 2018, the Supreme Court of Colombia ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and based on scientific evidence, ordered the Colombian government to create an action plan to stop deforestation; and to create an intergenerational pact for the life of the Colombian Amazon. The Supreme Court of Colombia also recognized the Amazon rainforest as an entity subject of rights, entitled of protection, conservation, maintenance and restoration, thus expanding the debate on rights of nature in Colombia.
Year: 2020