The Colombian perspective

Colombia is located in the north-west corner of the South American continent, with almost 3 000 km² of coast on the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.⁴¹ Due to its geographical position, most of the country’s coastal and marine ecosystems exist in tropical areas. These ecosystems include beaches, cliffs, coral reefs, mangroves, seabed bottoms and seagrass meadows.⁴² At the same time, the Andes Mountain Range is divided into three smaller mountain ranges at the south of Colombia; therefore, several rivers end on the coast and form an intricate system of coastal lagoons and estuaries, some of which are protected as Wetlands of International Importance un-der the Ramsar Convention.^43,44

The country has been active in multilateral environmental meetings and has ratified many global MEAs with relevance to coastal and marine issues, such as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal,⁴⁵ the CBD,⁴⁶ the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),⁴⁷ MARPOL,⁴⁸ the Ramsar Convention, and the UNFCCC.⁴⁹ Furthermore, Colombia has been part of many regional agree-ments and organizations, having ratified several regional MEAs, especially in the Wider Caribbean⁵⁰ and the South-East Pacific.⁵¹ Nevertheless, ratification of these

41 Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Política Nacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible de las Zonas Costeras e Insulares de Colombia – PNAOCI (MESD, 2000).

42 Ibid.

43 Incorporated into Colombian law through Law 357 of 1997. Colombia appears to have a strict system of incorporating international agreements it ratifies into its domestic legislation through specific, numbered national laws. A list of more than 100 international agreements (and the relevant national laws where these have been incorporated), relating to biological diversity either through their commercial or environ-mental subject matter, can be seen at ‘Summary of the main international conventions ratified by Colom-bia’, <http://www.humboldt.org.co/ingles/en-pol-reco-tratados.htm> (visited 30 September 2013).

44 The first RAMSAR-designated wetland in Colombia, and one of the most significant, is called Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta, which has more than 42 km² of wetlands and which includes two national parks.

This area was designated as a RAMSAR site in 1998; and was also designated as a Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO in 2000.

45 Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Basel, 22 March 1989, in force 5 May 1992, 28 International Legal Materials (1989) 657, <http://www.basel.

int>; signed by Colombia on 22 March 1989 and ratified by Colombia on 31 December 1996 – incor-porated through Law 253 of 1996.

46 The CBD was incorporated into Colombian law through Law 165 of 1994.

47 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Washington DC, 3 March 1973, in force 1 July 1975, 993 United Nations Treaty Series 243, <http://www.cites.org>; ratified by Colombia on 31 August 1981, then brought into force on 31 November 1981 (Law nr 17, 1981) and then given technical interpretation through Decree 1420 of 1997.

48 MARPOL was incorporated into Colombian law through Law 12 of 1981.

49 The UNFCCC was incorporated into Colombian law through Law 164 of 1994.

50 See Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Carib-bean Region, Cartagena, 24 March 1983, in force 30 March 1986, 22 International Legal Materials (1983) 221; and Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region, Kingston, 18 January 1990, in force 18 June 2000, available at <http://www.cep.unep.org/cartagena-convention/spaw-protocol/

spaw-protocol-en.pdf> (visited 13 February 2009).

51 See Agreement on regional cooperation against oil pollution and other harmful substances in cases of

international instruments does not mean that Colombia is necessarily taking a great interest in coastal areas, as none of them relate directly to ICZM.

Insofar as domestic instruments are concerned, Colombia has two national policies related to integrated coastal zone management: the National Environmental Policy of the Oceanic Spaces and Coastal and Insular Areas of Colombia (PNAOCI);⁵² and the National Policy for Oceans and Coastal Regions (PNOEC).⁵³ The former is fo-cused on environmental and territorial planning issues, being divided along three strategic areas: environmental planning; marine environmental quality; and sectoral environmental sustainability. The PNOEC, on the other hand, is more concerned with multi-sectoral issues, from military aspects to economic activities and including environmental and cultural topics. Despite this, only the PNOEC contains specific guidelines for international issues.

Moreover, the Ministry of the Environment⁵⁴ has formulated several programmes related to the protection or sustainable use of marine resources. As an example, every year a report on marine and costal ecosystems⁵⁵ is published, although it is descriptive rather than being management-oriented. Another programme which can usefully be mentioned here is one relating to research on coastal erosion,⁵⁶ which aims to identify specific mitigation actions in affected areas. Despite its importance, the programme is limited in that it does not address the overall integrity of the coastal zone, and is thus not really an example of integrated coastal zone management.

The protection and sustainable use of coastal and marine ecosystems are addition-ally regulated through several domestic laws. One of the first laws was Law 2811 of 1994, also called the ‘Natural Resources Code’, which in its Article 278 prohibits fishermen from conducting their activities on beaches where wild species reproduce, in national parks and in public bathing areas. Another important domestic law, adopted in 1978,⁵⁷ defines the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and

continen-emergency for the South-East Pacific, Lima, 12 November 1981, <http://www.cpps-int.org> (incorpo-rated by Colombia through Law 45 of 1985 (original title in Spanish: Acuerdo sobre la Cooperación Regional para el combate contra la Contaminación del Pacífico Sudeste por hidrocarburos y otras sustan-cias nocivas en casos de emergencia)); and Protocol for the protection of the South-East Pacific against pollution from land-based sources, Quito, 22 July 1983, <www.cpps-int.org>. Incorporated by Colombia through Law 45 of 1985 (original title in Spanish: Protocolo para la protección del Pacífico Sudeste con-tra la Contaminación proveniente de fuentes terrestres).

52 Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Política Nacional, supra note 41.

53 Colombian Commission for Oceans, Política Nacional del Océano y los Espacios Costeros- PNOEC (CCO, 2007).

54 The Ministry of Environment has changed its name three times since 2000 when the PNAOCI was ap-proved. It is currently called the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

55 INVEMAR, informe del estado de los ambientes marinos y costeros en Colombia (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, 2012).

56 W. Guzman, B. O. Posada, G. Guzman. and D. Morales, Programa Nacional de Investigación para la Prevención, Mitigación y Control de la Erosión Costera en Colombia - PNIEC: Plan de Acción 2009-2019 (INVEMAR, 2008).

57 República de Colombia Congreso Nacional, Ley 10 de 1978, Por medio de la cual se dictan normas sobre

tal shelf.⁵⁸ However, the most relevant domestic law for the marine environment was that which created the Ministry of Environment and the National Environmental System.⁵⁹ Since this law, several statutes (including sectoral laws⁶⁰) and policy instru-ments have been approved, such as the PNAOCI previously mentioned, assisting Colombia in fulfilling its commitments under various international environmental instruments.

An interesting issue for ICZM and the application of international instruments is the delimitation of the coastal zone. As recently as 2013, Colombia established its first law exclusively applicable to coastal areas and their management,⁶¹ complement-ing the two policies mentioned above. However, a lack of legislative guidance remains on how to determine the extent of the coastal zone. This is, in particular, the case on-shore, because the boundaries of the marine area within which regional environ-mental authorities are to perform their functions (i.e. the boundaries of the off-shore part of the coastal zone) are clearly defined in Article 208 of the current National Development Plan.⁶² The in-land boundaries of the coastal zone are not yet defined by any law or instrument – not even the very recent Decree 1120 (mentioned above).

As a result, each institution defines its on-shore boundaries according to its own interests, which is barely congruent with the principles of ‘integrated management’.

The main instrument for delimiting the coastal zone in Colombia is the PNAOCI.

This policy proposed zoning of the Colombian coastal area on two scales: ‘Environ-mental Coastal and Oceanic Units’ (UACOs in Spanish), which cover hundreds of kilometres of littoral area; and ‘Integrated Management Units’ (UMIs in Spanish), which are smaller than UACOs and vary in length from ten to 100 kilometres. It is important to highlight that UACOs were strictly defined by PNAOCI,⁶³ and later

mar territorial, zona económica exclusiva, plataforma continental, y se dictan otras disposiciones, Diario Oficial No. 35077, 18 August 1978.

58 Due to this law having been adopted before UNCLOS came into existence, the law is not fully aligned with the Convention. As an example, Law 10 of 1978 merely defines distances from land of the territo-rial sea, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf and the base line; while UNCLOS has very detailed provisions within these zones.

59 República de Colombia, Congreso Nacional. Ley 99 de 1993, por la cual se crea el Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, se reordena el Sector Público encargado de la gestión y conservación del medio ambiente y los recur-sos naturales renovables, se organiza el Sistema Nacional Ambiental, SINA, y se dictan otras disposiciones, Diario Oficial No. 41146, 22 December 1993.

60 The main relevant domestic sectoral laws include: Law 1 of 1991 (Marine Ports Statute); Law 141 of 1994 (special financing for many coastal areas); Law 685 of 2001 (Mining Code, including specific actions to protect the marine environment); Decree 1100 of 2003 (special financing for national parks and RAM-SAR sites); and Decree 2190 of 2005 (National Plan to Prevent and Attend Oil Spills).

61 Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Decree 1120 of 2013, ‘por el cual se reglamentan las Unidades Ambientales Costeras -UAC-y las comisiones conjuntas, se establecen las reglas de procedimiento y criterios para reglamentar la restricción de ciertas actividades en pastos marinos, y se dictan otras disposiciones’

(2013).

62 República de Colombia Congreso Nacional, Ley 1450 de 2011 por el cual se expide el Plan nacional de desarrollo 2010–2014, Diario Oficial No. 48102, 16 June 2011.

63 PNAOCI created eight UACO on the Continental Caribbean Coast, four on the Pacific Coast and one on the Insular Caribbean Coast (San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina Archipelago). See supra note 36.

through Decree 1120, whereas UMIs must be defined by local stakeholders accord-ing to local characteristics.⁶⁴

During the years 1997 to 2000, the Ministry of Environment and its research insti-tutes engaged in an exercise of zoning the shoreline based on biophysical character-istics, governance variables and socio-economic criteria; as a result, UACOs were defined and included in the PNAOCI. This exercise educates stakeholders that the Colombian coastal zone is divided into three big coastal areas (Caribbean Islands, the Continental Caribbean Coast and the Pacific Coast) and ten UACOs; however, stakeholder participation was very low and the limits of the project were merely the shoreline, without defining any boundaries on-shore or off-shore.

On the other hand, UMI boundaries are not explicitly defined within the PNAOCI, nor in Decree 1120. The responsibility for defining these units thus lies with local ICZM committees. Although there is not a unique methodology to establish UMIs, few efforts have been made to create UMIs in Colombia, with only one well-docu-mented case on the Pacific Coast.⁶⁵ Therefore, zoning and planning at local levels is still needed in respect of the majority of Colombia’s coasts, demonstrating a lack of empowerment of local stakeholders. Finally, it could be important to highlight that the participation of Colombia in several international organizations at the regional level, such as in the Wider Caribbean or the South-East Pacific, has not been enough to trigger this local process of delimitation; implying that a more explicit instrument to define coastal zones is perhaps still necessary.