The struggle of ethnic communities to defend their land in Colombia: a window onto environmental peace and a just socio-ecological transition

Abstract

This article reflects on the convergence between efforts to build environmental peace and the commitment to a just socio-ecological transition in Colombia, arguing that both involve overcoming the structures of domination inherent in the extractivist model, which are also present in much of Latin America. Using a bottom-up approach,  it examines how the struggles of ethnic communities have succeeded in creating a legal environment favourable to the defence of territory and nature, which, in turn, led to the recognition of the Atrato River as a rights-holder by the Constitutional Court and the accreditation of the territory as a victim of the armed conflict before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, opening the door for the protection of rights and the implementation of reparation mechanisms to be carried out from an ontological-relational perspective.