People of the Centre are finally included in public planning process for the Colombian Amazon

In a historic agreement with the government of Colombia, the indigenous Amazonian peoples collectively known as the People of the Centre will develop their own action plan for input to Colombia’s Intergenerational Pact for the Life of the Amazon. Over three months in 2025 they will participate directly in forest and climate policymaking, with the work to be funded by the state.

The People of the Centre – the Peesiehe (Andoke), Nonova ɨɨni (Nonuya), Féénemɨnaa (Muinane) and Nɨpodɨmakɨ (Uitoto) peoples – are the ancestral and traditional owners of 2 million hectares in the Colombian Amazon, in the Middle Caquetá River basin. They have been fighting for their right to participate in official decisions about the future of the Amazon since 2018 when the Supreme Court declared under its ruling STC4360/18 that the Colombian state has a legal duty to address Amazonian deforestation, uphold human rights and protect the rights of nature. This progressive legal ruling ordered the government to apply participatory processes to develop and implement action plans to tackle deforestation and safeguard the future of life in the Colombian Amazon.

In 2022, FPP worked in partnership with the NGO Dejusticia to inform leaders and communities about the Supreme Court ruling. In 2023, a delegation of 12 leaders of the People of the Centre was supported to attend a landmark court hearing in the capital, where they demanded that the government guarantee their participation.

Building on this, rightsholders participated in a virtual hearing of the High Court of Bogotá in June 2024 from their rainforest territory; this was followed up by face-to-face community dialogues in the territory with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Presidential Office in December 2024 and again in January 2025 – all enabled with FPP support.

In 2025, at their request, FPP will accompany the People of the Centre in their grassroots construction of self-determined proposals for action.

This work is an example of how FPP is accompanying indigenous peoples to assert their fundamental rights to direct, meaningful and culturally appropriate participation in judicial processes and public environmental policies affecting their forest territories, including in state implementation of national court decisions.