The territory as a victim of the armed conflict

by Adriana Abril Ortiz

The Afro-Colombian communities that inhabit the banks of the Atrato river in northwestern Colombia acknowledge their territory as a victim of the five-decade long internal armed conflict and call for a “Humanitarian Agreement Now!”

Image by Leonie Zetti on unsplash

Illegal gold mining in the Atrato river has caused environmental degradation and threatened the livelihoods of Afro-descendants and indigenous communities in the Chocó department of Colombia. This territory is the second-largest producer of gold in Colombia, the poorest region in the country, and a biodiversity hotspot. The Colombian conflict has left weak governance structures and a humanitarian crisis in the Chocó. Today the area is plagued by the presence of armed groups that find illegal gold mining as a source of income, which undermines the process of environmental peacebuilding.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) stated that the increasing pressure on the territories to exploit natural resources could become a “significant driver of violence”. It can contribute to the outbreak of a conflict or, as is the case of Colombia: finance armed groups and eventually undermine the peacebuilding process. The Afro-Colombian communities pursue their claim for truth, justice and guarantees of non-repetition. But overall, they propose alternatives to protect the environment, reduce inequality gaps, and build a life in peace. Therefore, the Atrato river Guardians ask the Government to work on humanitarian agreements with the still active guerillas and other armed groups so they could “live in peace in their territories”.

Through its 750 km, the Atrato river crosses the department of the Chocó, northwestern Colombia: rising from the Andes mountain range and flowing into the Caribbean Sea. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) highlights its intrinsic value as a biodiversity hotspot with “one of the most species-rich lowland areas in the world”. Besides, the Atrato river provides several ecosystem services to local Afro-descendant and indigenous communities: fluvial transportation, fishing, agriculture, as well as spiritual and cultural benefits.

The Chocó department has 471.601 inhabitants, and nearly the entire territory is the collective property of Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples: Emberas and Wounan. The Chocó is marked by the five-decadeold internal armed conflict, which ended in 2016 with the peace agreement between the Colombian Government and the largest rebel organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Even though the conflict has ended, the department currently presents the highest levels of monetary poverty in the country. Furthermore, 78% of its population is registered as victims of the conflict, and 58% as internally displaced, showing that the peacebuilding process is far from finished.

The five-decade-old internal armed conflict has left weak local governance leading to “uncontrolled” extractive economies, corruption, and lack of accountability. In this context, illegal gold mining is undermining the peacemaking process. A 2017 report of UNEP brought to light how armed groups, FARC dissidents, other guerrillas: National Liberation Army (ELN), and armed gangs

have become increasingly interested in gold mining as a source of income besides cocaine and arms trafficking, mainly through extorting informal miners and establishing a system of illegal taxation. Nowadays, national statistics show the Chocó is the second-biggest producer of gold in Colombia and the first in terms of the territory affected by mechanized alluvial mining.

According to reports of the Colombian State and international organizations, among others, UNEP, UNODC, WWF-Colombia, UNDP, and the OECD, mining intensification has provoked several negative socio-environmental impacts in the Chocó. Artisanal gold mining in the Atrato river has been an ancestral productive activity of afro-descendant communities. However, since the mid-’80s, gold mining in the Atrato river basin has gone through a process of intensification by mechanization (using dredges, bulldozers, and backhoes) as well as the insertion of external actors: multinational corporations and illegal groups attracted by the rising prices of the commodity. The presence of armed groups has caused land dispossession, the confinement of local communities, and the criminalization of ancestral miners who depend now on “mafias of intermediaries”. nervous system and be harmful to pregnant women.

The impacts of illegal gold mining in the Atrato river basin and on the livelihoods of local communities show the importance of natural resource management in the post-conflict period. As the FARC does not monopolize the gold mining sector, other actors dispute those territories, causing confrontations between criminal groups, the Government, and local communities. The economic incentives “reinforce political and social divisions,” threatening the peacebuilding process, as well as financing criminal groups for whom gold represents a legal and highly tradable commodity.

In 2016, the Constitutional Court of Colombia declared, for the first time, nature: the Atrato river is subject to rights and ordered the Government to execute a strategic remediation plan. This is part of a regional trend, a biocentric perspective, that implies recognizing nature itself as a right holder beyond the traditional anthropocentric view of the environment as an instrument to satisfy human needs. However, the implementation process of the sentence has represented a source of collective struggle in response to “institutional inertia.”

The intensification of gold mining provoked the degradation of freshwater ecosystems through mercury contamination, deforestation, the alteration of channels, and the sedimentation of the Atrato river. High mercury levels have since been found in human hair and fish from the Atrato river basin. This toxic element could particularly have adverse effects on the The humanitarian crisis in the Atrato river requires implementing policies to prevent violence, building trust and cooperation between social groups, promoting state legitimacy, and developing sustainable livelihoods for the people in the area. The State must support public-communitarian alliances to promote bottom-linked initiatives in implementing the Constitutional Court sentence. In this context, it is essential to ensure the protection of social leaders as Colombia is the most dangerous place for rights defenders in Latin America. In 2021, Human Rights Watch reported that 400 human rights defenders have been killed in Colombia´s remote communities since the Peace Agreement was signed. If these measures are taken, eventually, as the Afro-Colombian people claim, the Government can look forward to a successful peacebuilding process. ♦

Portrait by Jan Nimmo in collaboration with Steve Cagan

*Special gratitude to the Glasgow based artist Jan Nimmo for her commitment and work. Currently, she is developing the Ríos Solidarios Project at the University of Glasgow, which intends to create artwork to raise awareness about the difficult situation in the Atrato river and the communities. The project is open to everyone who wants to “share messages of love and solidarity” from their local rivers. If you want to join, email to Jan at the following address: jan.nimmo@gla.ac.uk.

Artwork: Maryury Mosquera, Atrato River Guardian.

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