The Government declares the end of the national disaster due to climate variability

President Abelardo de la Espriella declared the return to normality of the national disaster situation that had been in effect since November 2024 due to the effects of climate variability. He did so through Decree 1776 of 2026, signed on November 12 and published in the Official Gazette 53,689 on Friday, November 13, 2026, countersigned by the director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency, Carlos Andrés Ríos Puerta.

The decision is based on Article 64 of Law 1523 of 2012, which empowers the president to declare the end of the disaster situation following a recommendation from the National Council for Risk Management. That body, in extraordinary session number 9 on November 10, 2026, issued a favorable prior opinion for the return to normality.

The chain of decrees left behind

The original declaration was Decree 1372 of November 13, 2024, which covered the entire national territory for twelve months, extendable for an equal period. Its validity was extended by Decree 1193 of November 12, 2025, and later modified by Decree 464 of May 4, 2026, which strengthened the development of the Specific Action Plan (PAE). Decree 1776 of 2026 does not affect any other declaration: its scope is expressly limited to that regulatory chain.

What remains in effect and who is responsible

Although the declaration ceases, the decree maintains the recovery machinery:

• Special regime: the rules enabled by the disaster situation continue to apply, as necessary, during rehabilitation and reconstruction.
• Specific Action Plan: it will continue to guide the lines of intervention, projects, and recovery activities, under the direction, coordination, and guidance of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
• Early Recovery Plan (PRT): approved by the National Council for Risk Management on July 29, 2026, with a two-year validity, it reports 70 plans and projects managed by the UNGRD, funded by the Cold Front 2026 Sub-account of the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (FNGRD).
• Sub-accounts: the budgetary and accounting separation between Climate Variability 2024 and Cold Front 2026 is preserved.
• Monitoring: the UNGRD, with the support of the Inter-institutional Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, will continue to measure physical and financial progress.

The text specifies that the return to normality “will not, in itself, imply the termination” of the PAE programs and projects.

Money at stake and fiscal control

The decree recalls that Legislative Decree 241 of March 12, 2026 added the sum of $8,682,063,516,112 to the 2026 General National Budget, of which $6,348,950,610,737 corresponded to the budget section of the UNGRD destined for the FNGRD. Of that amount, the distribution for the 2026 Cold Front assigned:

• $1,179,008,077,575 to actions under the responsibility of the UNGRD.
• $5,169,942,533,162 to sectoral early recovery interventions.

Regarding oversight, Decree 1776 of 2026 modifies article 15 of Decree 1372 of 2024: the external audit of the PAE for climate variability will no longer be contracted through the UNGRD but by the FNGRD, through the fiduciary company that administers and represents it. The Comptroller General of the Republic retains its functions of oversight and fiscal control. All of this is framed within Judgment C-191 of June 24, 2026 of the Constitutional Court, which conditioned the execution of resources obtained under the protection of the state of emergency to their separate administration and the permanent reporting of information to control bodies.

Effects for territories and contractors

The decree reiterates that governors and mayors maintain the leadership of the National Disaster Risk Management System in their jurisdictions, in accordance with articles 13 and 14 of Law 1523 of 2012. For executing entities and recovery contractors, the operational signal is that the contracts and projects of the PAE and the PRT continue their course, subject to existing legal, technical, budgetary, and contractual conditions.

The regulation is effective from the date of its publication and arrives in a year marked by other emergencies, such as the declaration associated with the earthquake of August 10, 2026, processed separately through Decree 1171 of 2026 and unrelated to the object of this act.

The news is important because it orders the formal closure of a two-year emergency without extinguishing the spending: billions in recovery will continue to be executed under exception rules, now with the audit transferred to the FNGRD trust and with the UNGRD at the center of the monitoring. For the territories affected by the 2026 Cold Front, the change does not mean the end of the works, but rather the transition from response to the reconstruction phase under reinforced oversight.

Source: Official Gazette, number 53,689 of November 13, 2026, Presidency of the Republic — Decrees, p. 1 (official reference: Decree 1776 of 2026).