*Column by María Soledad Betancur
The project that seeks to position Colombia before the world as a “Global powerhouse of life”, led by President Gustavo Petro and which places equity, land use planning based on water and not on business and a fair energy transition, is the antidote presented to the world to face this painful indicator that places us as the country where most environmental leaders are murdered, especially indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities. Today, from this political project, Colombia challenges the world to defend life in all its forms and therefore avoid the collapse of the planet.
Between October 21 and November 1, 2024, the city of Cali, Colombia, will host the “Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity - COP16”, which will bring together more than 190 countries to discuss key commitments aimed at conserving 30% of the planet's terrestrial and aquatic areas by 2030.
It is significant for Colombia and the world that these debates are taking place in this city, which has been configured throughout its history as “the main urban center for black people, not only in the southwest of Colombia but also especially for the entire Pacific region, which is made up of the Departments of Chocó, Valle, Cauca and Nariño”.1. The choice of this territory for the global meeting indicates that peace, equity, diversity, the defense of territory, human rights and nature, must be the barrier that stops the greed of capital, a greed that leaves death and destruction to life on the planet.
A diagnosis that reveals the magnitude of the challenges
According to the recent UN report2 para Colombia, el cual cubre un periodo entre el 1 de enero de 2016 y septiembre de 2024 y que será en el marco de la COP16, en la región Pacífica ocurren más de la mitad de los asesinatos de personas defensoras del medio ambiente, seguido de la Amazonía. Los defensores y defensoras asesinadas son especialmente miembros de comunidades indígenas y afros.
Of 248 cases of homicides documented during these 8 years and 9 months, 138 are registered in the Pacific region, followed by the Amazon with 24 cases. The 5 most affected departments are located in these two sub-regions as shown in the following graph taken from the UN report.
The report “Silenced Voices”, presented by Global Witness3 in September 2024 and which evidences the violence against land and environmental defenders, indicates that Colombia occupies the painful first place in the ranking of murdered environmental leaders in the world, followed by Brazil: both countries in the Amazon region.
The following table, taken from the Global Witness report, shows that defending the environment and the rights associated with land and territory represent a high risk to the life and personal integrity of male and female leaders, this is an issue reiterated by the United Nations and denounced day after day by social leaders from different corners of the country. These leaders face the voracity of capital hoarders who expand their business in the territories, seeking new profit niches at the cost of dispossessing communities not only of their territory but also of their dignity and their lives.
The bet and the purpose is that human rights and the rights of nature prevail over the rights of those who accumulate capital and wealth at the cost of dispossession and death. We are attentive to the voices of the world that from Cali seek to move in this direction. The current Colombian government is already putting life, dignity and equity as barriers to the voracity of capital.
- https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/resumen_ejecutivo_informe_petronio.pdf
↩︎ - https://www.hchr.org.co/historias_destacadas/hoja-informativa-de-onu-derechos-humanos-sobre-la-situacion-personas-defensoras-del-medio-ambiente-en-colombia-para-la-cop16/
↩︎ - https://www.globalwitness.org/es/missing-voices-es/
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