Internal armed conflict and environment in Colombia: analysis from ecological conflicts, 1960-2016

Based on an exploratory literature review and records in the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (https://ejatlas.org), this article analyzes 82 cases of environmental conflicts involving actors linked to the Internal Armed Conflict (CAI by its Spanish acronym) in Colombia. Using descriptive statistics, we analyzed the war and extractive actions, and the socio-environmental implications of the CAI in the cases studied. We distinguish the actors linked to the armed conflict, the modalities of violence, the impacts on ecosystems, and the most affected population groups between 1960 and 2016. We found that the intensive use of violence associated with CAI is a particularity that differentiates extractivism in Colombia from other Latin American countries. The CAI generated forced displacement, which in turn facilitated territorial control, appropriation of land and its resources, and advancement of extractivism. That these economic activities have the most intensive impacts on the environment, human rights, and vulnerable communities confirms this relationship. These activities correspond to biomass and land exploitation, mining, and fossil fuels extraction. In terms of environmental assets, we identified that forests and water ecosystems were the most affected. Moreover, three out of four cases analyzed show that the ethnic population was intensively harmed, evidence of a critical dimension of environmental racism in the armed conflict in Colombia.