Читать книгу Derechos Ambientales, conflictividad y paz ambiental - Gregorio Mesa Cuadros - Страница 17

Usually, the people that don’t have rights tend to fight for them and in the last decades the main demands have been about the right of water access, the right of preserving nature, rights for the land, clean air and natural forestry.

Similarly, the protection of the natural and cultural diversity is the most important reason that indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombian peoples, peasant or poor farmers and other rural and urban communities demand rights from the government and the judicial system, especially because their great contribution to the conservation the forest, clean water, seeds and wildlife in general.

In addition, we cannot forget that natural forests still exist because there are cultures that continue to inhabit them from special rules of use and access to nature, based on a strong environmental standard oriented more in the limits than in authorizations. This is one of the main reasons why the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples were affected by environmental degradation resulting from extraction activities, biopiracy and the forced displacement of their traditional lands.

Finally, if we add to the destruction generated by drug trafficking, illegal crops, trafficking of species and weapons in a country of prolonged civil war such as Colombia, the pollution produced by national and transnational companies with their big projects, works or activities, environmental law must be implemented immediately in order to salvage what we have left.

This is a main problem because this situation impacts the rights from the traditional peoples and communities and hence to all the population in the country. We all need water, soil, clean air, and natural forest in well conditions for a healthy life and equality for all.