Country research Colombia – CAPAZ Institute
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Abstract
The research "Intercultural Agreements and Constructive: Transformation of Socio-environmental and Territorial Conflicts" aimed to identify and analyse the factors that facilitate the construction of neighbourly agreements in contexts of disputes over access to and use of land and its resources in Colombia. This was implemented in the framework of the LAND-at-scale programme in Colombia.
In this, the primary focus of this research has been on the characterisation of different types of conflict. Access to land and its concentration have been significant triggers of territorial conflicts in Colombia. These conflicts manifest themselves on multiple scales and involve different actors (community, state, private sector, among others), so it is possible to find various expressions of this type of conflict. One of these is neighbourhood conflicts with interethnic nuances. These can be understood as those in which Indigenous Peoples, Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, Palenquero, campesinos, or local communities confront each other over the ownership and appropriation of a specific territory. These conflicts have socio-environmental expressions, as they challenge established ways of using, understanding, and managing nature.
Recent years have seen an increase in the study of the aforementioned conflicts, as well as socio-environmental, territorial and intercultural conflicts in Colombia in general. A secondary emphasis was placed on the understanding the factors that enable positive transformation or the construction of agreements. To achieve this objective, a qualitative methodological design was implemented, based on the review of secondary information sources and interviews with experts from academia, non-governmental organisations, public institutions, indigenous peoples, and peasant communities. In total 41 cases were analysed.
The research has been executed by the CAPAZ Institute and prepared for the LAND-at-scale programme for the project in Colombia working with project partners Kadaster, ICCO Conexión, and Tropenbos Colombia. To learn more about LAND-at-scale, follow LAND-at-scale | Land Portal or LinkedIn.
LAND-at-scale is a land governance support programme financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and managed by the Netherlands Enterprise & Development Agency (RVO).
Publication details
- Author
- Laura Beltrán, Diana Morales and Luna Correa
- Publisher and contributing organizations
- Government of the Netherlands, Netherlands Enterprise & Development Agency
- Publication date
- July 2025
- Language
- English
- Geographic focus
- Colombia
- Subjects
- Indigenous & Community Land Rights Land & Conflicts · post-conflict settings environment agricultural land management conflicts land conflicts indigenous peoples' land rights Indigenous Peoples
- Resource type
- Reports & Research
Program: LAND-at-scale.
Related projects: LAND-at-scale Colombia: Research on intercultural agreements and territorial conflicts.
Original publication credited to Laura Beltrán, Diana Morales and Luna Correa. Cover reproduced from the first page. Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0. Land Portal source record.