"Fossil fuels in court: lessons from Colombia", 14 October 2016

…Eager to stop new coal mines, oil fields and supporting infrastructure, and to raise funds to support people affected by climate change impacts, climate activists are increasingly taking legal action against fossil fuel producers. Cases…are now pending in the Netherlands, in Peru, in Pakistan and New Zealand, in the Philippines and the United States…[M]any legal actions against fossil fuels extraction projects…focus on…water and food insecurity, impacts on farming, public health, and ethnic or human rights.Colombia is a good example. In February 2016, the Constitutional Court decided to limit the areas accessible for fossil fuels and minerals extraction to protect…delicate…ecosystems…[It] suspended the operations of the company Pacific E&P in Quifa…and of Ecopetrol and Petrominerales in Orito…for failing to consult with ethnic communities...Legal activism in Colombia is also shifting the political economy of the extractive sector…Civil society groups have gotten stronger and more organized…[T]hey have not only won legal battles, but also tarnished the extractive sector’s image in Colombia…