The Congress of Colombia approved in fourth debate the draft bill approving the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters, adopted by 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries on March 4, 2018, in Escazú, Costa Rica (the "Escazú Agreement"). 

Thus, Colombia joins the list of 14 countries to approve the Escazú Agreement and starts the path towards the implementation of its provisions, among which are the following:
 

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Chile
• Ecuador
• Guyana
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Saint Lucia
• Uruguay

The Escazú Agreement aims to ensure the full and effective implementation of the rights of access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making processes and access to justice in environmental matters, as well as the creation and strengthening of capacities and cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Escazú Agreement seeks to contribute to the protection of the present and future generations’ right to a sustainable development and to live in a healthy environment.

Although this draft bill must now go through a conciliation process between the two chambers of the Congress of the Republic to be finally approved by the legislator, after which it must be sanctioned by the President of the Republic and submitted to the Constitutional Court’s constitutionality review, no significant changes are expected in its content that may affect the meaning or main objective of the Escazú Agreement. This is further supported by Article 23 of the Escazú Agreement, which expressly establishes that reservations are not admitted. 

To see the original version of the Escazú Agreement, please click on the following link