Environmentalists and people who prefer to drink clean water are praising Colombia's constitutional court for banning oil drilling and mining in the country's ecologically fragile moorlands, also known as "paramos".  The ruling nullifies 347 existing licenses to muck around in the place where most Colombian water supplies originate.

The court order undoes part of the government's National Development Plan, which had banned the granting of new mining licenses in paramos.  But Left-wing lawmakers challenge Article 173 in the plan, which labeled those existing licenses "Projects of Strategic National Interest".  Congressman Alirio Uribe Munoz says the ruling, which clearly states that under no circumstance should mining or oil exploration be allowed in these areas, means "life first, business later".

The paramos are the alpine tundra in the northern Andes Range, between an altitude of 3,000 and 5,000 meters.  They're covered by grass and shrubs which act like vast sponges, storing water in the rainy season and releasing it into the headwaters of rivers and streams during the dry season.  Protecting these headwaters are crucial to preserving the water supply to Colombian cities, including the capital Bogota.

The constitutional court knocked down two more portions of the National Development Plan:  It revoked the article that allowed the government to forcibly expropriate privately-owned land for mega projects.  And removed the ban that prevented people displaced by the country's 51-year civil war from claiming land that had been stolen and later were converted to so-called Projects of Strategic National Interest.