Defending and Protecting life, Territories, Nature and Human Rights as a response to the Climate Crisis

Last year was the warmest on record, with climate change indicators reaching unprecedented levels. Despite being the most affected by its impacts, ethnic peoples and local communities raise proposals for how to handle this crisis.

So far in 2024 we have witnessed the impact of forest fires, deforestation, high temperatures, heavy rains in some regions and extreme droughts in others, with serious effects in Colombia and other Latin American territories, which highlights the urgent need to prioritize strategies and measures to address the impacts of climate change.

From 21 October to 1 November, the United Nations Conference of the Parties on Biodiversity - COP16 - was being held in the city of Cali, Colombia, whose main theme was ‘Peace with Nature’, and which has been referred as ‘the COP of the people’. It has undoubtedly generated great expectations about the role that ethnic peoples, local communities and civil society organisations can play in defining agreements on the conservation and care of biodiversity, a fundamental variable for mitigating climate change.

During the United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP28, slow progress was recognised in all areas of climate action, in the context of compliance with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and a decision was taken to accelerate the implementation of strategies by 2030 to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. A rapid, just, and equitable transition to renewable energy and the phase-out of fossil fuels in energy systems were at the centre of the debate and the resulting agreements (UNFCCC).

In the month in which the international day against climate change is commemorated, we at the Norwegian Human Rights Fund - NHRF make visible the critical voices, analysis and points of view of some of the local communities, ethnic peoples and Colombian civil society organisations that we have been supporting, as well as their commitments, initiatives and proposals in the face of this emergency or climate crisis, as they prefer to call it due to the seriousness of its impacts, the complexity of its causes and the urgency of the mitigation and adaptation actions to be implemented.

What is the relationship between Deforestation and the Climate Crisis in Colombia?

Colombia's greatest contribution in terms of GHG emissions comes from deforestation, the main drivers of which are the appropriation of land, extensive livestock farming, the construction of irregular roads, illegal mining and the planting of crops for illicit use. As part of the strategies to tackle this problem, the implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects has been encouraged, through which a voluntary market for carbon credits has been made viable, although it is not yet regulated by the State.

The effective impact of these projects in terms of reducing deforestation rates, conserving forests, and contributing to climate change mitigation has been relativised and questioned by various organisations and experts. This is pointed out in the study carried out by NHRF's strategic partner, the Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible -FCDS and the Center for Clean Air Policy (2023), Comportamiento de la deforestación en proyectos REDD+ en Colombia (in Spanish). This study is part of the FCDS research exercise and does not represent a product carried out within the framework of the cooperation agreement with the NHRF.

The NHRF's partner organisation, the Centro de Alternativas para el Desarrollo - CEALDES, has drawn attention to the process of privatization of the climatic functions of forests (their capacity to capture and store carbon dioxide) immersed in this mechanism, which does not propose a fundamental transformation of the economic model that has generated the current environmental crisis and has potential to intensify conditions of inequality in the territories.

Some of these are related to aspects such as: unbalanced and poorly informed negotiations; new tensions in territories with the presence of armed groups; irregularities and indications of corruption, fraud and tax evasion; internal community conflicts; and the violation of the rights of ethnic and peasant communities.

In this regard, the Colombian Constitutional Court recognised the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples by a REDD+ project, in response to the writ of protection presented by the Indigenous Council of Pirá Paraná and the Association of Captains and Traditional Authorities of the Pirá Paraná River - ACAIPI, in Ruling T-248 of 2024. At the moment, the national government is moving forward with the regulation and ruling of the carbon markets, with a view to improving their scope and implementation.

At the same time, the positive effect of collective titling and environmental and territorial governance strategies of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities on conservation and deforestation control has been demonstrated, as well as the Zonas de Reserva Campesina (Peasant Reserve Zones), says the CIJP, the Territorios Campesinos Agroalimentarios (Agroalimentary- Peasant Territories), among other proposals for peasant territorialities.

In general terms, we understand environmental and territorial governance as the set of processes, mechanisms and organisations through which different actors (state, communities, companies and civil society organisations) influence decision-making, implementation, actions and results related to the protection, use and sustainable management of nature and territories. It implies the guarantee of upholding stakeholder rights and compliance with the principles of access to information, participation and environmental justice.

In the framework of the Norwegian cooperation's commitment to support GHG emission reduction targets, adaptation and mitigation strategies, the protection of biodiversity, the fulfilment of the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda, the improvement of land use and land tenure policies, and the protection of ethnic rights, we highlight below some examples of grantee partner organisations in Colombia that have promoted various actions and proposals with the support of the NHRF.

Ethnic Peoples' Initiatives and Proposals in the face of the Climate Crisis

In the territory of the Sierra Nevada de Gonawindua (Santa Marta, Colombia), the Resguardo Indígena Kankuamo is advancing in a process of identifying potential areas, zones and spaces for the conservation of the Tropical Dry Forest (one of the most degraded, fragmented and threatened in the country) in the upper and middle basin of the Dry River. They help define necessary restoration actions and monitor the fauna in light of how to sustainably manage the ecosystem of the tropical dry forest. This is framed within an integral environmental and territorial planning (of the relationships with and uses of the nature and the territory), which is based on ancestral principles and mandates as an indigenous people, among which the spiritual dimension is fundamental.

From this perspective, the forest does not represent an isolated ecosystem, but an essential part of a collective territory, historically affected by the armed conflict, as well as by the environmental impact of various extractive activities.

In this way, these initiatives also imply an exercise of spiritual healing and compensation for the damage caused to nature, the territory, and its communities.

Sibelis Villazón is the Coordinator of the Commission of Women and Families of the Kankuamo Indigenous People, and is part of the group of women who carry out actions for the protection and conservation of the tropical dry forest. In the following video we invite you to learn about her story and experience:

Similarly, the Asociación de Autoridades Tradicionales Mesa Permanente de trabajo por el Pueblo Cofán y cabildos indígenas pertenecientes a los Pueblos Awá, Nasa, Kichwa y Embera Chamí del municipio Valle del Guamuez y San Miguel - AMPII CANKE has proposed the strengthening of the indigenous environmental guard from an environmental governance approach for the conservation, care, and protection of the ancestral territory.

The training process for the members of the indigenous guard on issues of historical contextualization, human rights, national and international regulations, participation and advocacy has played a central role in this endeavour. As well as the progress of intercultural dialogues with peasant and Afro-descendant communities in the territories.

"The Atrato is already polluted. Let's become aware, my people, and let's treat it differently’ (River Guardian in a copla)

As part of an environmental and territorial governance exercise, it is also relevant to highlight the great advocacy and environmental participation efforts made by the Cuerpo Colegiado de Guardianes y Guardianas del Río Atrato, with the support and accompaniment of the Centro Sociojurídico para la Defensa Territorial Siembra, to ensure the implementation of the Court Ruling T-622 of 2016, which represents an important legal precedent in Colombia in terms of the recognition of a river as a subject of rights and the adoption of categories such as biocultural rights.

This process proposes a paradigm shift that distances itself from an anthropocentric approach (which places human beings and their interests at the centre of priorities) and, on the contrary, promotes and highlights the profound and interdependent relationship between the river, nature and the communities that inhabit its basin.

Through the support given to the Foro Interétnico Solidaridad Chocó - FISCH it has been possible to give impetus to these efforts, as well as to strengthen a pedagogical and articulation process of young Guardians of the Atrato River to guarantee the sustainability of this long struggle in defence of the river, the territory, and the rights of its communities.

Learn more about the achievements and complexities of protecting the rights of the river and the communities that depend on it in the documentary below (in Spanish):

Differential Effects of the Climate Crisis on Women

The impacts of the climate crisis affect territories and populations differently, and among these it is important to recognize the differentiated effects on rural women, derived from their relationship with nature and their assumed role as maincare givers within their communities, organisations, and territories. In order to increase knowledge about the dynamics that give rise to the climate crisis and strengthen resilience strategies in the face of the challenges it poses, several organisations have implemented educational and training proposals on the matter of women and global warming.

One example is the environmental school for leaders and young people from peasant associations in the Santurbán region of Santander, Colombia, promoted by the Corporación Buen Ambiente - Corambiente. Some of the practices and strategies developed include eco-efficient cookers, composting, biodigesters, irrigation systems, organic fertilizers, septic tanks, productive roofs and rainwater harvesting, which promote local and sustainable food production, improve soil health and the living conditions of peasant families, reduce costs, and increase the resilience of communities.

Likewise, the Tejedoras de Vida del Putumayo have developed a diploma course on pedagogical strategies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change and variability with a focus on gender and rights with 80 women leaders, and in addition, 13 environmental action plans have been built or strengthened in different territories of this region.

For its part, the Corporación de Mujeres Ecofeministas - Comunitar has promoted a School for Environmental Prosecutors in which the various environmental consequences and the effects of the armed conflict that are exacerbated by climate change in the region of Cauca have been addressed, as well as an approach to self-care in defence of biodiversity and to confront the violations of their rights derived from these situations.

Energy transition challenges

Regarding the energy transition, the Business and Human Rights Information Centre has warned about human rights abuses related to the extraction of transition minerals globally. By 2022, 306 cases of rights violations were registered in the Latin American and Caribbean region related to the renewable energy sector affecting environmental and territorial defenders.

One of the cases in Colombia corresponds to the impacts generated to the Wayuu indigenous people by the advance of the installation of wind projects in La Guajira; the Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz - Indepaz documents the different conflicts in the publication Por el mar y la tierra guajiros, vuela el viento Wayuu (in Spanish).

Juana Velásquez is a clan chief of the Wayuu indigenous people. In the following video learn about the achievements and obstacles in the protection and conservation of the ancestral territory in accordance with their uses and traditions:

Faced with this scenario and in recognition of the necessary centrality that a human rights approach must include, the NHRF celebrates the fact that on 20 August, local communities, ethnic peoples and civil society organisations in Colombia delivered the Manaus Declaration on Human Rights in the Climate Emergency to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). This urges the IACHR Court to adopt minimum standards of human rights protection in the context of the climate emergency, collected during the period of public hearings of the Advisory Opinion on the subject, in order to establish an interpretative framework that clarifies state obligations and corporate responsibilities in accordance with the relevant norms.

Partners such as the Organización Indígena Kankuama, the Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo - CAJAR and the strategic partner Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad - Dejusticia are signatories to the Declaration. Both Business and Human Rights Information Centre and Dejusticia shared observations with the IACHR Court as amicus curiae.

The cases mentioned above illustrate the great efforts and diversity of actions that local communities, ethnic peoples and social organisations are promoting at local, regional, national and international levels to face the challenges of the climate crisis. They represent fundamental contributions to the care and protection of forests and biodiversity, the construction of intercultural dialogues, the strengthening of capacities and knowledge on environmental sustainability, and improvement proposals for the development of agricultural and productive activities. They also reveal the need for a change of paradigms, of modes of production and consumption, of perspectives and practices that transcend the commodification of nature and give rise to other ways of understanding, feeling and co-existing socially and with nature. Moreover, they highlight the importance of the knowledge and initiatives of ethnic peoples, peasant communities, and many social organisations in the country, in terms of mitigation, adaptation and resilience strategies. They are guardians of life, nature, territories and human rights, despite the fact that this work constantly puts them at risk and threatens them.

From the perspective of the civil society organisations supported by the NHRF, it is clear that facing the climate crisis in Colombia implies assuming a strong commitment to territorial peace building, advancing in the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement, ensuring the transversality of the human rights approach in its addressing, the articulation of public policies, and the effective implementation of the Escazú Agreement, among other important efforts. Correspondence from States, corporations and actors with greater responsibility for contributing to the current climate crisis is fundamental, in compliance with international agreements, and in coherence with climate justice, which is firmly linked to social and environmental justice.

We hope that COP16 has been an opportunity to address the protection and conservation of biodiversity in a comprehensive manner, from the perspectives of ethnic peoples and local communities, as well as to prioritize the protection of environmental defenders. Based on this, concrete and ambitious action plans can be defined, with the necessary political will to guarantee their fulfilment, and thus safeguard life on planet earth.

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Photo 1. Visit to the Indigenous Resguardo La María, in San José del Guaviare, Colombia. Credit: NHRF Germán Barrera

Photo 2. Visit to one of the deforested areas in San José del Guaviare in Colombia. Credit: NHRF Germán Barrera

Photograph 3. Accompanying the Resguardo Indígena Kankuamo on their walks to identify their territory. Credit: NHRF Marcela Ruiz

Photograph 4. Guardians of the Territory of the AMPII CANKE Association in walks through the territory in four communities Villanueva (Cofán), Kiwe Use' and Tierra Linda (Nasa), Resguardo San Marcelino (Kichwa). Credit: AMPII CANKE Association

Photo 5. Guardians of the Atrato River at the Atrato Fest. Credit: NHRF Marcela Ruiz

Photo 6. Exchange of knowledge with peasant women. Credit: CORAMBIENTE

Photo 7. Water Guardians strengthening their capacities on the Escazú Agreement. Credit: Weavers of Life of Putumayo.

Photo 8. Collective psychotherapeutic accompaniment to women in Cauca for the consolidation of territories in peace, with social justice and gender equity. Credit: COMUNITAR

Photo 9. Wind farms in La Guajira. Credit: NHRF

What is the relationship between Deforestation and the Climate Crisis in Colombia?

Ethnic Peoples' Initiatives and Proposals in the face of the Climate Crisis

"The Atrato is already polluted. Let's become aware, my people, and let's treat it differently’ (River Guardian in a copla)

Differential Effects of the Climate Crisis on Women

Energy transition challenges

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