Colombia, Santurbán Páramo Case: Popular Action before the Administrative Court of Santander (2025)

Ref. # 680012333000-2018-00196-00 and 680012333000-2020-00138. 

In July 2025, the Administrative Court of Santander declared the Santurbán páramo a subject of rights, designated the Ministry of Environment as its legal representative, and ordered the National Authority for Environmental Licenses (ANLA) to refrain from granting, extending, or modifying environmental licenses for extractive activities (mining, hydrocarbons, large-scale dams) in the area.

The judgment resolved two consolidated actions, each of which had a central focus on the environmental protection of the water sources and mountain system that make up the Santurbán Páramo. P. 17. Both actions questioned the validity of any license, authorization, or permit for mining exploration or exploitation, particularly those involving the Sociedad Minera de Santander S.A.S. (MINESA S.A.S.), on the grounds that the páramo constitutes an area of special environmental interest. P. 17.  

The Court analyzed Colombia’s normative framework, as well as the principles of interdependence, intergenerational justice, and the intrinsic value of nature, identifying them as foundations of an ecocentric approach. Pp. 22–42. It also reviewed case law on the recognition of natural entities as subjects of rights (pp. 42–54), with explicit reference to Advisory Opinion OC-32/25 on climate change and human rights, in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights addressed State obligations in the context of the climate crisis and reaffirmed the structural interdependence between human rights and the protection of nature—thus advancing its understanding of nature’s recognition as a subject of rights. Pp. 51–53.

The Colombian Court further examined the legal feasibility of recognizing natural entities as subjects of rights, emphasizing that such recognition is appropriate:  

when the entity is understood as a dynamic living system endowed with its own ecological functionality, interdependent with other forms of life, and possessing intrinsic value independent of its usefulness to humans . . . . This recognition is particularly applicable to strategic ecosystems whose integrity is indispensable for ecosystem balance, water regulation, biodiversity, and planetary habitability. 

Pp. 58–59.

Building upon the precedent set in Judgment C-035 of 2016, which determined the “vital character of the páramo in relation to the principle of ecosystem conservation and the need to ensure its functional integrity in order to guarantee collective rights” (p. 59), the Court emphasized that: 

páramo ecosystems possess a unique, irreducible, and irreplaceable character. Their relevance extends beyond Colombia to the global level, as they are conceived as living systems with their own purpose in water regulation, carbon capture, and the sustenance of multiple forms of life, both human and non-human. 

P. 62.

The global importance of páramo ecosystems was further reinforced through a reference to Advisory Opinion OC-32/25, which reiterated the obligation of States to adopt measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. P. 62. The Colombian Court concluded that the Santurbán páramo surpasses the threshold of strategic ecological importance established by constitutional jurisprudence for its recognition as a subject of rights and as an entity deserving of reinforced protection. Pp. 64–65.

Another criterion considered by the Court, in accordance with existing jurisprudence, was the verification of an actual or latent structural threat arising from human activities that compromise the ecosystem’s capacity for regeneration, continuity, and self-regulation. This threat was identified specifically in the Santurbán Páramo Complex due to agricultural expansion and mining activities, “which contribute to the worsening impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss”. P. 68.

The Court also confirmed the viability of autonomous legal representation for the ecosystem and the need to establish a regime of reinforced constitutional protection. Based on this assessment, it recognized the Santurbán Páramo as a subject of fundamental rights and concluded that the constitutional protection of its ecosystem requires the inclusion of its buffer zones. Pp. 82, 89. Consequently, it established the activities that must be prohibited or restricted within the Páramo—such as mining, extensive agriculture, intensive livestock production, and large-scale or road infrastructure—and, in its buffer zones, activities such as unregulated urban expansion, unregulated tourism, and polluting industrial or agricultural practices. Pp. 91–92.

Among other measures, the judgment designates the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development as the guardian and legal representative of the Páramo’s rights. P. 100. Together with other authorities and municipalities, the Ministry must coordinate and adopt a Reinforced Protection Plan for the Santurbán Páramo Ecosystem.

*Quotes have been unofficially translated from Spanish.