Re-imagining environmental governance

Gold dredge mining vs Territorial Health in the Colombian Amazon

Bibliographic Data

ID8943745
AuthorsCamilo Torres Sanabria (0000-0001-9935-8536, Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano), Camilo Torres (0000-0001-6694-9583), G Verschoor (0000-0001-9141-8709, Wageningen University & Research, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume117
Pages124-133
Publication date2020-10-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeoforum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7185 • E-ISSN: 1872-9398
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.09.013
PMID33078029
OpenAlexW3092691392
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited46

This article describes and analyses an encounter in the Colombian Amazon between Indigenous practices and arrangements to manage their environment and the conservation policies of the State. Indigenous peoples understand their world as populated by powerful human and nonhuman beings; for them, the moral duty of achieving happiness and abundance for all implies sustaining reciprocal and respectful relations with these beings (including the State). In contrast Colombian environmental policy distinguishes between nature and culture, seeking to safeguard landscapes from human interference so that natural processes can unfold unhindered. In practice these partially connected, yet incommensurable worldviews make for a 'perfect storm' - opening opportunities for illegal mining. Drawing on recent fieldwork among the Andoke, an ethnic group well acquainted with extractivism in its different historical modalities and presently affronting the fallout of gold dredge mining we narrate how a parallel, non-state governance system makes it difficult for them to care for their land and entertain mutual and respectful relations with human and nonhuman beings (which we translate as 'territorial health'). We conclude by arguing for the need to re-imagine environmental governance in ways that more closely engage with what we call pluriversal governance: a form of (environmental) governance that does ontological justice to those involved in the environmental conflict - including, crucially, Indigenous people

Amazon rainforest · Corporate governance · Economics · Environmental governance · Environmental planning · Geography · Gold mining · Management · Political science · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Ecology · Mining and Resource Management · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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