(Environmental Conflicts’Prevention and Solution in Indigenous Territories

Abstract

This article seeks to look at Colombian indigenous people’s own law and offers a look to its practice, specifically in the case of the Arhuaco group, located in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, and the Embera Chamí group, located in the Department of Caldas. It analyzes the implementation of strategies and mechanisms for the protection of their rights related to prevent and resolve conflicts in relation to natural resources and/or the environment. These peoples have developed comprehensive strategies for the defense of their territories and resources, seeking to guarantee their survival and that of their descendants, as well as strengthening their organization. The research was carried out through case studies to determine how environmental conflicts within indigenous territories are generated, managed and resolved from the perspective of their own law, and its interaction with the law of the State based upon the current normative system. The re-search begins with the use of an exploratory-descriptive methodology consisting of identifying, classifying, characterizing and establishing the causes and impacts of these social, cultural and environmental confrontations. This is complimented with an inductive methodology for the analysis of cases, documents and files; in addition, various methodological resources such as participative action research through workshops, talks and social cartography elaboration are used and allowed to stablish strategies arising from indigenous peoples for the handling of such situations.