The legal personality of nature and its elements versus the constitutional duty to protect the environment (La personalidad jurídica de la naturaleza y de sus elementos versus el deber constitucional de proteger el medio ambiente)

The work aims to analyze two different aspects of Constitutional Law. On the one hand, the concession of legal personality to nature, in general, and to its elements, in particular, by part of the Colombian High Courts. On the other hand, the constitutional duty to protect the environment found in articles 8, 79, 80 and 95-8 of the Political Constitution Colombia of 1991, which has been extensively discussed by the Constitutional Court and that it falls on the entire State apparatus and all of the people. The analysis tries to demonstrate that the aforementioned concession is absolutely inadequate to protect the natural environment and its components and that, on the contrary, the aforementioned duty constitutes the legal entity to develop and promote the safeguarding of the environment and its elements.