A Just Transition: Peacebuilding and Environmental Justice in Post-Agreement Colombia

Since the 2016 signing of the peace agreement, the Colombian government has pursued an array of different policies to expand state capacity and advance sustainable development goals in the country’s rural, conflict-impacted regions. Previous research on conflict points to the fact that the environmental impacts of conflict and peacemaking are heavily context dependent. These analyses, however, do little to examine the consequences of environmental policies on peacebuilding. This paper uses case studies of two environmental policies that have been pursued in the Colombian post-agreement context to explore the impacts of environmental policies through a justice framework. The case studies reveal the complexities of advancing rural development in a post-conflict setting, and the risk that failing to incorporate environmental justice principles in the policy-making process can have on peace. In turn, this paper argues that by failing to consider principles of environmental justice when implementing environmental policies, the Colombian state is reinvigorating the territorial inequality and violence that have fueled its decades-long conflict. The findings suggest that a thorough incorporation of environmental justice principles is crucial for environmental policymaking in post-conflict settings.