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I encountered the word here: 世界で色んな人が食べ物がないから、食べ物を捨ててはならない!と子供の頃から両親 が教えてくれた。

and the 'adjectival' definition in https://jisho.org/search/%E8%89%B2%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA

Edit: Both @Leebo 's and @Aeon Akechi 's answers did answer my question and were rich of useful information. But I accepted the longest answer.

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It cannot be used as a predicate. It can only come before a noun to directly modify it, the way that it modifies 人 in the sentence you provided.

So you cannot end a sentence with things like

✕～が色んなです。
✕～は色んな。

Things that are described as adjectives can of course directly modify a word, but they can also be used as a predicate. For instance, the related word いろいろ is a な adjective.

So you can say いろいろな～ or you can say ～がいろいろだ

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I think it's because 色ん can't stand its own without な. One can say 「世界には色んな人がいる」, but not 「世界にいる人は色んだ」. (Similar to 小さな, 大きな, おかしな)

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