This article identifies the theoretical and conceptual criteria to be taken into account when developing the research project “Integral protection of the Otún River Basin: reality or utopia“, whose purpose is to identify, analyze, and propose public policies for the integral protection of the Otún River Basin in the Department of Risaralda, Colombia. Resting on a jurisprudential review, it determines the current direction of the Colombian legal system regarding environmental protection matters. Based on this, the study proposes some theoretical points from which to work on the construction of the research project, specifically, the new constitutionalism, legal pluralism, and biocultural rights in Latin America. Bearing in mind the change of paradigm caused by the declaration as subject of rights to environmental entities, the analysis shows that in order to achieve the integral protection of the Otún River, it is necessary to review the state of environmental protection in Colombia and the criteria from which a public policy should be formulated. The study identifies Sentence T-622/16 as the one that causes this change in the paradigm, so from its analysis, it is possible to state that environmental protection in Colombia should be governed by biocultural rights that comprise recognizing the ontologies of the communities, and in turn imply their participation in the formulation of environmental protection policies.
