Autonomous actions essential to protect indigenous Embera territory in Colombia

The Embera Chamí indigenous people of the Resguardo Cañamomo Lomaprieta, an indigenous reserve located in the municipalities of Riosucio and Supia in Colombia, know all too well that when it comes to protecting their territory and upholding their rights, they need to move forward autonomously. 

Their small land base of only 4,826 hectares, for a population of 20,790 living in 32 communities, has been carved up into mining concessions issued unilaterally by the state to companies and individuals interested in the rich gold deposits located in the Resguardo. Their water sources are also threatened from growing population pressure and encroachment by nearby urban centres. Yet the Resguardo is moving forward to protect their territory, their mineral resources and their waters.

“We might have a small land base,” said the Chief Governor of the Resguardo, Arnobia Moreno, “but we are doing everything to protect it not only from the invasion of outsiders interested in plundering our gold, but also to make sure that the little land we have, and our bountiful water sources, are protected for our future generations, and for our very survival.”

That’s why in honour of Earth Day 2017, community women, children and men gathered on one of their sacred mountains, the Cerro Sinifana, to honour the guardian spirits of the mountain, and to plant over 1,300 trees. Indeed, the Resguardo has engaged in an ambitious reforestation campaign to protect its 415 water sources (in 2016 the communities planted 20,451 trees), and encourage biodiversity while increasing food security. 

There are other examples of autonomous actions of territorial defence. For example, the Resguardo has established its own rules and regulations protecting the ancestral mining its people have engaged in since before the formation of the Colombian state. Traditional authorities have banned harmful substances such as cyanide and mercury, while requiring environmental management plans. And they have declared the territory a ‘no-go’ zone for large-scale mining.

“We need to move forward autonomously to protect our territory, because this is our homeland, and the state has done nothing to protect our rights,” said the Resguardo’s Natural Resources Programme Coordinator and former Chief Governor Héctor Jaime Vinasco. “In fact, quite the contrary: the state has run roughshod over our territorial rights, ignoring our very title as one of the oldest indigenous reserves established by the Spanish Crown.” 

Indeed, the Resguardo recently won a precedent-setting Constitutional Court Case, made public late January 2017, ordering the state to delimit the Resguardo’s ancestral lands, and to recognise the legitimacy of the Traditional Authorities to regulate their own mining, among other orders. Yet to date, there has been no action to implement these. 

“Even though we sent our highest authorities to meet with representatives from the National Lands Agency in Bogotá to spur action on the Court’s orders to delimit our traditional territory, our delegation was stood up,” said Vinasco. “And nothing has been done.”

He added: “We won’t give up. We will keep on pushing for the delimitation and protection of our territories. Even if we have to do it ourselves.”