LEGAL CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIC PATHWAYS FOR BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION IN COLOMBIA: TOWARDS A GREEN ECONOMIC TRANSITION
By Daniel Peña Valenzuela, Partner Peña Mancero Abogados
I. Introduction
Colombia’s constitutional framework establishes the protection of biodiversity as a fundamental duty of the State and a right of all citizens (derecho fundamental y colectivo). As one of the most megadiverse countries globally, Colombia faces a complex legal and policy challenge: how to reconcile its ecological wealth with the imperatives of economic growth, international trade, and rural development. The expansion of the agricultural frontier, the emergence of bioeconomic markets, and the rise of ecotourism as a conservation-financing tool demand a coherent legal response.
This article examines the regulatory, institutional, and fiscal mechanisms necessary to transform biodiversity from a vulnerable asset into a strategic pillar of Colombia’s green economic transition.
II. Agricultural Frontier and Legal Instruments for Sustainable Land Use
The recent update of Colombia’s agricultural frontier reveals a total of 42.9 million hectares, a figure that underscores both the scale of productive potential and the urgency of legal intervention. Within this frontier lie vast areas of degraded or underutilized soils that, if reconverted under appropriate legal frameworks, could support agroforestry systems, silvopastoral models, and perennial crops such as cacao, rubber, certified palm oil, and long-cycle timber. These transitions are not merely agronomic innovations; they are legal transformations that require zoning regulations, environmental licensing, and land-use planning instruments aligned with Law 99 of 1993 and the mandates of the National Environmental System (SINA).
The legal rationale for promoting such transitions is grounded in their capacity to reduce deforestation, increase per-hectare productivity, and enable access to international markets that demand verifiable sustainability. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will apply to Colombian large companies in 2025 and to Colombian small and medium enterprises in 2026, imposes strict due diligence obligations on importers of commodities such as palm oil, soy, cocoa, and timber. Colombian producers must therefore adopt legally recognized certification schemes and traceability protocols to remain competitive and compliant.
III. Certification Systems: Legal Relevance, Operational Complexity, and Market Integration
Certification systems are increasingly understood not as voluntary standards but as legal instruments of market access and environmental compliance. Colombia must institutionalize and scale multiple certification schemes, each with distinct legal, technical, and operational requirements. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), for example, requires producers to demonstrate transparency, environmental responsibility, and respect for community rights. This entails legal verification of land tenure, adherence to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) protocols, and alignment with national forestry and environmental laws. In regions such as Meta and Chocó, where palm expansion intersects with ethnic territories and post-conflict zones, RSPO certification must be accompanied by robust legal safeguards to prevent land dispossession and ecological degradation.
Similarly, Bonsucro certification for sugarcane production emphasizes productivity, labor rights, and environmental impact. In Colombia, its implementation must navigate the complexities of labor law compliance, water usage permits, and pesticide regulation under the oversight of the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) and the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (INVIMA). The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), which demands non-GMO production, zero deforestation, and social responsibility, poses additional legal challenges, particularly in harmonizing its standards with Colombia’s regulatory framework on genetically modified organisms and environmental impact assessments.
IV. Traceability and Data Governance: Building a Legal Backbone for Sustainability
Traceability is the legal linchpin of certification. Without robust systems to georeference plots, monitor production, and verify compliance, certifications lose credibility and legal enforceability. Colombia must legislate a national traceability system that includes mandatory geospatial mapping of production plots, linked to cadastral and environmental registries. This system must ensure interoperability between public datasets—such as those managed by IGAC, ICA, and ANLA—and private sector data, while respecting the principles of data protection enshrined in Law 1581 of 2012.
Verification protocols must be standardized and legally recognized, including third-party audits, remote sensing technologies, and blockchain-based systems. These mechanisms should be regulated by the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio to ensure transparency, accountability, and consumer trust. Crucially, the legal framework must include incentives and technical assistance for small and medium producers, who risk exclusion from formal markets due to the high costs and complexity of compliance. This includes subsidized certification schemes, simplified reporting procedures, and legal protections against discriminatory market practices.
V. Bioeconomy: Legal Instruments for Innovation, Equity, and Market Access
Colombia’s biological wealth offers a unique opportunity to develop a bioeconomy centered on natural ingredients, bio-inputs, biomaterials, and bioactive compounds for health and cosmetics. To unlock this potential, the State must enact and enforce legal instruments that promote intellectual property protection, access and benefit-sharing (ABS), and public-private partnerships. The legal framework must ensure that patents and plant variety rights for bioactive compounds are protected under Andean Decision 486 and national intellectual property law, while guaranteeing that communities benefit from the commercialization of genetic resources in accordance, among others, with the Nagoya Protocol
Public-private partnerships must be legally structured to facilitate co-investment in research and development, technology transfer, and incubation of bioeconomic ventures. This requires the articulation of sectoral plans, CONPES documents (public policy documents), and fiscal incentives for innovation. Regulatory streamlining is also essential: procedures for registering bio-inputs and natural products with INVIMA and ICA must be simplified to reduce barriers to market entry.
VI. Ecotourism and Conservation: Regulatory Design and Enforcement
Ecotourism, when legally structured, can serve as a financial mechanism for biodiversity conservation and inclusive development. Legal components must include enforceable limits on visitor capacity per destination, binding environmental management plans, and standards for infrastructure design, waste management, and water usage.
Local value chains must be legally incentivized through tax benefits, training programs, and preferential access to protected areas. Monitoring and enforcement mechanisms must be established to prevent predatory tourism practices that degrade ecosystems and reputational value. Protected areas, indigenous territories, and private reserves must be governed by clear legal norms that balance access with conservation. Nature tourism, if legally structured, can become a self-financing mechanism for ecosystem protection and a generator of dignified employment.
VII. Financing Mechanisms: Towards a Legally Mandated Green Fund
Financing biodiversity requires sober legal design. Colombia can reserve a fraction of increased revenues from legal mining and planned energy transition taxes for a national green fund. This fund should be legally mandated to support payments for environmental services (PES), certification and traceability subsidies, watershed restoration, and territorial control against illegality. Certification and traceability costs must be co-financed through legal instruments that promote equity and inclusion. Investments in ecological infrastructure must be regulated under Law 99 of 1993 and the National Water Policy, while territorial control must be supported by legal frameworks for environmental prosecutors, forest rangers, and community monitors.
VIII. Conclusion: Legislating the Green Transition
To consolidate Colombia’s transition toward a biodiversity-based economy, the country must adopt a structured legal roadmap that articulates regulatory reform, institutional strengthening, and fiscal innovation. This roadmap should be grounded in constitutional mandates, international obligations, and domestic development priorities, and must be implemented through coordinated legislative, executive, and territorial actions.
Colombia must enact a national law on sustainable land-use transition, establishing legal criteria for the reconversion of degraded soils into agroforestry, silvopastoral, and perennial crop systems. This law should define eligibility conditions, environmental safeguards, and incentives for producers who adopt zero-deforestation practices. It must also incorporate mechanisms for legal recognition of certification schemes and their integration into environmental licensing and trade protocols.
The country must legislate the creation of a national certification and traceability infrastructure. This includes the legal recognition of international standards such as RSPO, Bonsucro and RTRS, and the establishment of a public registry of certified producers. A complementary law should mandate the creation of a national traceability system, with provisions for geospatial mapping, data interoperability, and third-party verification, ensuring compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation and other emerging trade requirements.
Colombia must adopt a legal framework for the promotion of the bioeconomy. This includes laws on intellectual property protection for bioactive compounds, access and benefit-sharing mechanisms aligned with the Nagoya Protocol, and fiscal incentives for research, development, and technology transfer. The framework should also include simplified regulatory pathways for the registration and commercialization of bio-inputs and natural products, particularly for small and medium enterprises.
The country must reform its tourism and conservation laws to enable ecotourism as a legally structured conservation-financing mechanism. This entails updating environmental and tourism legislation to include enforceable limits on visitor capacity, mandatory environmental management plans, and standards for infrastructure and service provision. Legal instruments must also promote community-based tourism enterprises and ensure equitable access to protected areas.
Colombia must legislate the creation of a national green fund, financed through a legally earmarked fraction of revenues from legal mining and energy transition taxes. This fund should be governed by a dedicated law that defines its objectives, governance structure, and eligible expenditures, including payments for environmental services, certification and traceability subsidies, watershed restoration, and territorial control against environmental crime.
The roadmap must include cross-cutting provisions for institutional coordination, capacity building, and public participation. This includes the establishment of intersectoral committees, legal mandates for transparency and accountability, and mechanisms for consultation with indigenous, Afro-descendant, and rural communities.
In sum, Colombia’s biodiversity must be protected not only through policy declarations but through enforceable legal instruments that align ecological integrity with economic opportunity. The transition to a green economy requires a juridically robust framework that transforms biodiversity into a source of productivity, equity, and resilience. The time to legislate that future is now.