Legal development and constitutional law in Colombia on the protection of the environment and water resources

Abstract

In recent decades, as a result of climate change and the high temperatures presented during the so-called “El niño Phenomenon”, there has been a marked lack of water in the municipal aqueducts in Colombia and the Huila region. This problematic that generates concern in the authorities and in the general population, has aroused the interest in the academy to debate if the different legal provisions in the Colombian legislation are sufficient to deal with the environmental crisis and especially the loss of surface water resources which affects access to the liquid for human consumption.  In that order, from the identification and analysis of the legal and jurisprudential development of the Constitutional Court related to environmental protection and especially to the issue of water, it was noticed that since the 20th century, due to innumerable problems caused by economic activity with negative impact on human health, the first environmental standards provided some corrective measures on the use of the water used for human consumption. Going by the Decree Law 2811 of 1974, which adopted the National Code of Renewable Natural Resources and Protection to the Environment, and a heavy regulatory environmental development, up to the political Constitution of 1991, considered to be a “green Constitution”. The regulatory and jurisprudential production regarding the legal protection of water as a generator of life has intensified since then.