The Colombian Santurbán Páramo saga and its contribution to the development of international investment law and arbitration

The Colombian Santurbán Páramo saga is a series of three arbitral proceedings initiated by Canadian companies claiming that Colombia’s actions with regard to the protection of the Santurbán Páramo area, a high-altitude wetland ecosystem on the Colombian Andes, had negatively impacted their mining activities. The three proceedings, which concluded with three awards in 2024, were charac- terized by the presence of different interests at stake. In fact, while markets represent the Santurbán Páramo as a source of gold to feed the global economy, local communities see the area as a key source of water as well as a fragile ecosystem deserving protection. From an international invest- ment law’s standpoint, the analysis of the Colombian Santurbán Páramo saga offers the possibility to reflect on several key aspects of investment treaty provisions as well as customary international law. In this light, the findings of the three tribunals on expropriation, minimum standard of treat- ment, and exception clauses will likely be considered by future investment tribunals which have to adjudicate environmental-related disputes. This holds a fortiori true if one considers that more and more disputes will be based on new-generation investment agreements, which generally contain provisions like those of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Area.