Colombia recognizes victims of ‘climate migration’

(ANSA) – BOGOTA, APRIL 24 – The Constitutional Court of Colombia has recognized climate change and some environmental impacts as a cause of “forced displacement”. The judges examined an appeal presented by a couple of farmers who had been forced to leave their properties due to the flooding of the Bojabá river, in the department of Arauca. According to the applicants, the event prevented them from returning home and the authorities’ actions had been “insufficient”. The Court ruled that “the State has a number of obligations before, during and after displacement due to environmental factors.” A decision considered unprecedented in a country with millions of people forced to flee their homes due to internal armed conflict. The highest Colombian court “examined the concept of forced displacement due to environmental factors and underlined that this can be caused both by sudden environmental disasters and by gradual processes of environmental deterioration, such as climate change, deforestation or acidification of the oceans,” we read in a note. (HANDLE).