Chapter · Colombia · Land
Two per cent of the country, everyone's water
An article of law, a judgment, and a border that moves one way only
Colombia's páramos cover two per cent of the territory and supply the drinking water of more than seven inhabitants in ten. This path reads the two documents that follow from it: the 2015 article of law protecting them, and the 2016 judgment in which the Constitutional Court held that the protection did not go far enough.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 1What a páramo isA páramo is not a place but a belt: above the trees, below the snow. It harvests water from fog, releases it constantly, and captures ten times more carbon than a tropical forest.10 min
- 2What the law forbidsArticle 173 bans farming, mining and hydrocarbons in páramos, leaves the border to a scientific map, then lets one paragraph allow concessions already granted to run to their term.10 min
- 3What the Court addedThe Court did two things a parliament had not: it removed the exception letting concessions finish, and it forbade the páramo border to move except towards more protection.10 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.