MAG Colombia
In 2019, a private lawyer named Yefferson Mauricio Dueñas Gómez initiated a nullity action against Presidential Decree 1500 of August 6, 2018, which redefined the ancestral territory of the Arhuaco, Kogui, Wiwa, and Kankuamo peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM). This territory was included in the system of sacred spaces of the 'Black Line' as a traditional area of special protection, with spiritual, cultural, and environmental value, in accordance with the principles and foundations of the Law of Origin and Law 21 of 1991, and other subsequent legal and jurisprudential developments .
The First Section of the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Council of State resolved to grant priority to issue a judgment within the process, since the “litigation concerns the delimitation of an ancestral territory in which fundamental and collective rights are in dispute, which fall on subjects of special constitutional protection such as ethnic communities.”
The coastal mountain range of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) is the highest in the world and, due to its physical characteristics, encompasses all climatic zones, harbors exceptional biodiversity, and contains a significant number of biomes. The SNSM plays a fundamental role in maintaining global biodiversity and protecting watersheds that provide ecosystem services, especially water supply and climate regulation. Decree 1500 of 2018 recognizes the role of Indigenous peoples, as the redefinition of their territory strengthens their capacity to carry out ancestral and spiritual practices that impact forest conservation and adaptation to and mitigation of the consequences of climate change.
The lawsuit overlooks the importance of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) in the face of climate change and its intrinsic natural and cultural value (erosion prevention, landscape stabilization, habitat formation for endemic and endangered species, continuous crop nutrition, and mitigation of climate change impacts). The repeal of Decree 1500 would leave the SNSM unprotected, as there would be no legal impediment to preventing the increase of invasive, highly polluting, and difficult-to-remediate activities, such as legal and illegal mining, agribusiness, mega-dams, non-traditional coca cultivation, unsustainable tourism, and other activities. If the lawsuit is accepted, territories that are protected as ancestral lands thanks to the decree would cease to be so and would be at the mercy of extractive projects, putting the survival of ancestral peoples at risk, threatening Colombia's non-compliance with international climate obligations, and contributing to the damage of sensitive ecosystems that help mitigate climate change.
In this case, organizations like AIDA have filed amicus curiae briefs to emphasize that—as the IPCC has maintained—the planning and implementation of climate change adaptation requires recognizing sociocultural interests, circumstances, and contexts. Therefore, systems and practices related to Indigenous, local, and traditional knowledge are fundamental to increasing the effectiveness of climate change adaptation. It is hoped that this argument will be recognized by the administrative judge in this process when upholding the legality of Decree 1500 of 2018, which protects the knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples and communities.
Yefferson Mauricio Dueñas Gómez and others
Ministry of Culture, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Presidency of the Republic of Colombia
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) is inhabited by the Kogui, Arhuaco, Wiwa, and Kankuamo Indigenous peoples. Their ancestral territory overlaps with the SNSM National Natural Park and with three departments: 39% of La Guajira, 35% of Magdalena, and 25% of Cesar. These areas are of significant ecological importance as carbon sinks, water sources, and habitats for high biodiversity. The territory is regulated and protected by the Ancestral Knowledge System of the four Indigenous peoples, which sustains their existence in harmony with the universe. This system is based on the Law of Origin, which consists of norms and codes that guarantee the balance and harmony of all the natural elements that make up Mother Earth. However, the dynamics of forced displacement generated by the armed conflict and the pressure to implement megaprojects within the Sierra Nevada have hindered the preservation of this system. Between 2013 and 2016, a process was undertaken to reach agreements aimed at protecting the territory and the system of sacred spaces. This resulted in the issuance of Resolution 3760 of 2017, which approved the Special Safeguarding Plan. This plan established the guidelines and actions designed to safeguard the Ancestral Knowledge System and, consequently, the Indigenous peoples and their culture. Decree 1500, by redefining the territorial boundaries, guarantees these agreements and the very existence of these peoples.
- International agreements/treaties
- Convention on Biological Diversity
- RAMSAR Convention
- United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
- Paris Agreement
- National laws
- Decree 1500 of 2018
- Law 21 of 1991.
- Beginning
- Principle of non-regression