President Abelardo de la Espriella’s government in Colombia revoked a measure adopted by his predecessor, Gustavo Petro, that designated the Colombian Amazon as a permanent reserve for renewable natural resources and the environment.
The decision eliminates a regulatory instrument designed to prevent new mining concessions and oil and gas exploration and production contracts across approximately 483,283 square kilometers (186,596 square miles) of Amazonian territory. It also reopens the debate over how to balance environmental protection, economic development, and the rights of local communities.
The Environment Ministry justified the decision by stating that the previous administration issued the measure without completing the legally required prior consultation with potentially affected Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities.
The ministry also questioned whether the resolution, on its own, guaranteed effective protection of the rainforest. Although the revocation does not eliminate other environmental safeguards currently in force, it removes a region-wide restriction on new extractive activities and raises questions about the direction of the country’s environmental policy.
Colombia revokes order designating the Amazon as a permanent reserve
The Environment Ministry revoked Resolution 0961, issued on August 4, 2026, during the final days of Gustavo Petro’s government. The decision was formalized through a new administrative act dated October 23 and announced by De la Espriella’s administration on Monday.
Petro’s measure had designated the Colombian Amazon biome, covering 483,283.55 square kilometers (186,596 square miles), as a permanent reserve, equivalent to approximately 42% of the country’s national territory.
Its central provision excluded the region’s renewable natural resources and environment from new concessions and authorizations for mineral exploration and extraction, as well as new oil and gas exploration and production contracts.
The initiative sought to establish a broad regulatory barrier against the expansion of extractive industries in one of the planet’s most important ecosystems. The Amazon plays a fundamental role in carbon storage, biodiversity conservation, and the regulation of water systems that sustain communities and economies far beyond the rainforest.
By designating the reserve as permanent, Petro’s government sought to limit the launch of new extractive projects throughout the entire designated area. Its revocation now removes that specific restriction, although it does not automatically authorize mining or hydrocarbon extraction in locations where other legal prohibitions remain in force.
De la Espriella Government’s rationale
The new administration’s main argument concerns the right to prior consultation, a legal guarantee intended to ensure that ethnic communities participate in decisions that directly affect their territories, livelihoods, and rights.
According to the Environment Ministry, the previous government designated the reserve before completing the consultation process with Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities that could be directly affected. The ministry argued that the absence of this procedure undermined these populations’ participation and the legal validity of the measure.
Environment Minister Fabio Arjona also questioned the effectiveness of the previous policy, arguing that a broad administrative resolution was insufficient to stop the forces driving environmental destruction.
“Once again, we are dealing with a resolution issued at the last minute by the previous government. Resolution 0961 did not, on its own, guarantee effective protection of the Amazon biome. On the contrary, it created economic and territorial uncertainty without offering concrete alternatives to those who live in the region and are, precisely, the main allies of conservation,” Minister Arjona said.
The government’s position is that illegal mining, deforestation, land grabbing, and criminal economies require a broader institutional response involving a state presence, territorial control, security, funding, and sustainable economic alternatives for local residents.
“Illegal mining, deforestation, land grabbing, and criminal economies, which found room to expand under the previous government, cannot be fought through resolutions alone. What is needed is a genuine institutional presence, territorial control, resources, security, and sustainable productive alternatives for communities,” Arjona said.
The administration also maintains that communities should be regarded as essential allies in conservation rather than being subjected to decisions that create economic and territorial uncertainty without offering viable alternatives.
El @MinAmbienteCo revoca la resolución sobre el bioma amazónico para garantizar la participación de comunidades negras.
Las comunidades cumplen un papel fundamental en la Agenda ABC. Por esto, la #PatriaMilagro realiza acciones para garantizar que todos los implicados participen en la conservación del bioma amazónico y la protección de este ecosistema, tan importante para Colombia y el mundo.
El ministro de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible, @fabio_arjona, reiteró que este acto administrativo no garantizaba, por sí solo, la protección efectiva del ecosistema y que continúan vigentes las prohibiciones, restricciones y medidas de protección de la Amazonía, sustentadas en otras disposiciones constitucionales, legales, judiciales y administrativas.
En este link puede ampliar la información sobre esta revocatoria:
https://t.co/98JizjFVUt— MinAmbiente Colombia (@MinAmbienteCo) October 26, 2026
What does the revocation mean for mining and oil?
The immediate consequence is the elimination of the general restriction established by Resolution 0961. With the resolution no longer in force, the administrative provision explicitly barring new mining concessions and new oil and gas exploration and production contracts throughout the designated Amazonian area is no longer in effect.
However, this does not mean companies can immediately begin extracting natural resources without restrictions. Projects remain subject to applicable environmental legislation, licensing requirements, regulations governing protected areas, and other legal and judicial restrictions currently in force.
The practical consequences will depend on each project’s location and the regulations that continue to apply. Territories within national natural parks and other protected areas, for example, retain the safeguards established under their respective legal frameworks.
The ministry has also raised the possibility of adopting new administrative measures to protect the Amazon once the relevant consultation processes have been completed and the necessary technical, environmental, and legal assessments have been conducted.
Other environmental protections remain in force
The government has stressed that revoking the resolution does not amount to abandoning the protection of the Colombian Amazon. Other legal instruments remain in force, including the forest reserve framework established by Law 2 of 1959, legislation criminalizing environmental offenses, the designation of national natural parks, and court rulings recognizing the Amazon as a subject of rights.
According to the government, these provisions continue to provide legal tools for restricting activities that threaten ecosystems, even though the general reserve created under Petro’s administration has been withdrawn. In other words, the decision announced Monday does not dismantle the entire legal framework governing activities in the rainforest.
The revocation once again highlights one of Colombia’s main challenges, shared with other countries in the region: protecting an ecosystem of global importance while addressing economic pressures, territorial conflicts, and the needs of communities that depend on the forest.
The controversial decision has implications that extend beyond Colombia’s borders. The Amazon is one of the planet’s largest reservoirs of biodiversity and carbon, meaning decisions about its conservation have direct consequences for climate change, water security, and the future of one of the world’s most important tropical ecosystems.
