Las controversias en el derecho internacional ambiental y los retos en la aplicación del principio de precaución en el ámbito local

Abstract

The Precautionary Principle is one of the most flexible concepts of International Environmental Law because of its different meanings within the devices that contain it and its diverse activation mechanisms depending on risk levels and rules of restriction. In Colombia, the Constitution, a few environmental laws and jurisprudence of the high courts have applied it in relation to issues such as collective rights, waste, biodiversity, mining, etc. This paper aims to explain the scope of this principle considering its negative and positive elements from the analysis of its origins in International Law and the way it has been implemented in Colombian legal system.