Who will protect the land?
They called him ‘the protector of the river of five colours’. Javier Francisco Parra Cubillos came from the Sierra de la Macarena, an isolated mountain range in northwest Colombia, where the unique red, purple, yellow, green and blue algae in the Caño Cristales river give it the appearance of a liquid rainbow. When he was gunned down on 3 December 2020, reportedly by a couple on a motorcycle, he joined a long list of environmental campaigners murdered for trying to defend the mountains, jungles and rivers of their country.
Colombia is the deadliest place in the world for human rights activists and those trying to protect the environment. In 2020, 177 campaigners were murdered in the South American country by guerrillas of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and other armed groups – the highest rate in the world, according to the human rights organization Global Witness. Covid-19 has only made things worse, with such groups violently imposing quarantines and restrictions on movement, in order to tighten control over land and the valuable trade of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine. Like Cubillos, many of those who are dying are engaged in a struggle to protect the unique natural ecosystems of Colombia.
It’s been almost six years since the government struck an uneasy pact for peace with the FARC. A key part of persuading them to lay down arms was a government promise of land reform – both titling peasant lands and returning land stolen by armed groups during the 50-year civil war. But peasant farmers and indigenous communities are still waiting for promised land restitution.
Rural areas make up 75 per cent of Colombia’s territory – some have been overrun by commercial interests, further displacing indigenous people and resulting in the destruction of vast rainforests. As Colombia gears up to a presidential election in May 2022, legal scholars and human rights organizations New Internationalist has talked to fear it is more at risk than ever of falling back into unchecked conflict. Yet a progressive movement for agrarian justice offers a kernel of hope, as communities go to ever greater lengths to make claims to land. Peace in Colombia – and the survival of some of the most important environmental ecosystems in the world – might depend on them.
Thriving biodiversity
Colombia spans three tectonic plates. The Amazon jungle lies to the south and expansive plains, including the Colombian Andes, lie to the northwest. The second most biodiverse country in the world after Brazil, its location in the centre of Latin America also makes Colombia a critical point in the migratory path of birds and animals. But the country’s biodiversity is under threat. As much as 13 per cent of the species in the forest along the Pacific coast are endangered, along with a rare and delicate
