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Colombia says December 2024 decree recognizes indigenous peoples as environmental authorities
Summary
Colombia's environment minister told the UN meeting that a December 2024 decree legally recognizes indigenous peoples as environmental authorities, enabling them to participate alongside state entities in environmental governance and access safeguards and resources.
Colombia’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Lena Yanina Estrada, told the UN high-level meeting on April 22, 2025, that a December 2024 decree establishes indigenous peoples as environmental authorities under Colombian law and begins to implement provisions of the 1991 Constitution.
Estrada said the decree “recognizes that indigenous peoples are environmental authorities at the same level of any other type of environmental authority,” and added that the government is working to align the decree with national structures, including economic safeguards so indigenous authorities can continue their stewardship role and receive resources to protect ecosystems.
The minister described the recognition as a step to incorporate indigenous worldviews—summarized in Colombian indigenous terms such as Sumak Kawsay—into public policy, and she urged that indigenous participation be formalized not only in delegations but also as negotiators at international processes, including future biodiversity conferences. She cited the recent establishment of the subsidiary body on Article 8(j) under the Convention on Biological Diversity as a mechanism to strengthen indigenous participation in global biodiversity policy.
Estrada framed the decree as part of a broader national agenda that links environmental justice, gender, and cultural diversity to conservation and said Colombia will pursue capacity-building and direct climate finance access for indigenous peoples.
No formal legal citation for the December 2024 decree was provided in the plenary statement; the minister referenced the 1991 Constitution as the domestic constitutional basis for the decree.
