BOGOTÁ, Colombia: A court in Colombia has ruled that environmental disasters, whether sudden or gradual, can legally be considered grounds for forced displacement, reinforcing the government’s obligation to protect and assist affected populations.
The Constitutional Court said in a statement late Monday that people may be forcibly displaced by sudden environmental disasters or gradual processes of environmental degradation such as climate change, deforestation and ocean acidification.
Six decades of armed conflict have displaced millions of people in Colombia.
In a historic case for Latin America, the court ruled on the request of a rural couple who say they were forced to leave their land after the Bojaba river in the eastern Arauca department repeatedly burst its banks.
The couple claimed that the damage was so severe that they were never able to return home and that the help from the authorities was “inadequate”.
The court concluded that the government had obligations “before, during, and after evacuation due to environmental factors.”
This includes conducting emergency evacuation maneuvers and providing space for the relocation of people affected by environmental disasters.
The court ruled that states must similarly guarantee basic marital rights to more than 8.6 million people displaced by armed conflict, many of whom live in urban areas.
Droughts and floods, expected to worsen with climate change, threaten the natural wealth of Colombia, one of the world’s most diverse countries, experts say.
