What The Hell America!

Irene Vélez-Torres

A lot of work needs to be done to raise awareness that the corporate sector also has a social responsibility in guaranteeing a sustainable future. On the one hand, the traditional extractive sector needs to urgently commit to phasing out coal, gas, and oil. On the other hand, the new green companies should adjust their model and realize that civil society also has a right to participate. One example comes from the region of La Guajira in northern Colombia — the place where most green energy projects are being carried out, inhabited by indigenous communities. Renewable energy companies have a great interest in this area.

Before the current government, there was a tripartite committee, where all decisions for the area were made. This committee included three different actors — namely, the national government, the local government, and the companies. Local indigenous communities were not involved in these decision-making processes. And this despite the fact that the affected areas are inhabited and constitutionally owned by them.

We completely redesigned the committee and added a fourth actor to it by including the indigenous communities. It took a year to convince the parties that were already on the committee to work with the local communities. With the new committee, a fairer dialogue can now take place in which local communities have a say in their future. We will have to wait and see whether this changes the direction of a particular wind or solar project.

But for us, this is a symbol of social participation. It actually took us one full year to make it happen, and that is also due to the inertia of the institutions and the resistance of some companies.