BOGOTA, Colombia

The Colombian government has issued a decree recognizing indigenous peoples as environmental authorities in their territories.

“With this new regulation, indigenous authorities will build, with other entities, direct mechanisms to guarantee the protection of the country’s ecosystems and their territories, taking into account their ancestral knowledge,” the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday. Environment in a press release.

The move comes as Colombia prepares to host the UN COP16 biodiversity conference from October 21 to November 1 in Cali. The summit will bring together 196 countries that have ratified the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, an international environmental treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

The Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, indicated that under the decree, 115 indigenous communities will exercise new powers over their territories, notably in terms of land use, protection of ecosystems and the development of rules of conservation.

“This is one of the main messages of COP16. It is the constructive dialogue between science and institutions with ancestral and traditional knowledge that can truly make peace with nature,” Muhamad said.

Critics of the decree, including departmental agencies that oversee conservation efforts in the country, said the decree would allow indigenous governance to come into conflict with community-led projects, from agriculture to agriculture. ecotourism.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro celebrated the new regulations.

“No one knows better than indigenous communities how to achieve balance between humanity and nature,” he said. “Today, we reaffirm their rights by signing this decree which recognizes their role as guardians of the environment. »

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