Contribution short abstract

In Western Catalonia, rural communities mobilized by Pobles Vius reclaim the right to say no to imposed extractivist “green” projects. The Declaració de Ponent defends territorial autonomy and envisions sustainability grounded in dignity, biodiversity, and environmental justice.

Contribution long abstract

The right to say no has emerged as a powerful concept within environmental justice struggles, especially in contexts of extractivism and imposed development. It refers to the collective refusal of communities to accept projects that threaten their territories, livelihoods, and ways of life, and is increasingly recognized as a form of self-determination and resistance to environmental violence. In the Ponent region (Western Catalonia), communities are mobilizing against extractivist and speculative macro-projects—biogas plants, solar farms, logistics hubs—imposed without meaningful consultation. These projects, often framed as green transitions, are legitimized by centralized decision-making and strategic declarations that bypass democratic debate. In response, the grassroots platform Pobles Vius has articulated a collective stance through the Declaració de Ponent, reclaiming the right to say no as a form of territorial defense and environmental justice. This communication draws on participatory action research conducted within Pobles Vius, combining ethnographic fieldwork, workshops, and mobilizations. It explores how rural communities resist being turned into energy colonies and waste repositories, and how they reimagine autonomy. The right to say no is not merely oppositional—it is generative, enabling alternative futures rooted in dignity, biodiversity, and interdependence. By centering the voices of small-scale farmers, village residents, and the diverse grassroots organizations that endorsed the Declaració de Ponent, this research challenges dominant narratives of rural backwardness and highlights the epistemic violence embedded in top-down green policies. It argues that refusal is a legitimate and necessary response to environmental injustice, and that rural resistance offers valuable insights for rethinking sustainability beyond technocratic paradigms.

Contribution short abstract

An ecoterritorial alliance in the east of Caldas, Colombia, promotes the Territorio Bio-cultural Agrodiverso as an emancipatory proposal centered on alternative hydrosocial relations to challenge hydropower.

Contribution long abstract

Small Hydropower Projects (SHPs) have been promoted by international organizations as part of the clean energy transition, celebrated for their contributions to climate mitigation and universal energy access. Yet many communities targeted for SHPs, such as the inhabitants of eastern Caldas, Colombia, have mobilized to resist them, challenging the idea that these projects carry minimal environmental and social impacts.

This paper examines the experience of the ecoterritorial alliance formed by Movimiento Ambiental Campesino del Oriente de Caldas (MACO) and Movimiento Socioambiental Kumanday, who view hydropower expansion as a new imposition from the departmental government and a form of dispossession that threatens their livelihoods and territorial continuity. In response, these grassroots movements are advancing a proposal to recognize eastern Caldas as a Territorio Bio-cultural Agrodiverso, a territorial vision centered on alternative hydrosocial relations and the defense of peasant cultural identity and ways of life. Furthermore, they have used institutional means such as popular consultations and open councils to express their opposition to SHP. Through these actions, they have organized around the Right to Say No (RTSN) to contest hydropower projects on their land.

The case of eastern Caldas shows that these mobilizations extend beyond resistance to dispossession; they also constitute acts of self-determination and emancipation. The paper explores how the proposal for a Territorio Bio-cultural Agrodiverso interacts with institutional frameworks and public policies, highlighting the alliances, tensions, and conflicts that emerge in this process.

Contribution short abstract

An ecoterritorial alliance in the east of Caldas, Colombia, promotes the Territorio Bio-cultural Agrodiverso as an emancipatory proposal centered on alternative hydrosocial relations to challenge hydropower.

Contribution long abstract

Small Hydropower Projects (SHPs) have been promoted by international organizations as part of the clean energy transition, celebrated for their contributions to climate mitigation and universal energy access. Yet many communities targeted for SHPs, such as the inhabitants of eastern Caldas, Colombia, have mobilized to resist them, challenging the idea that these projects carry minimal environmental and social impacts.

This paper examines the experience of the ecoterritorial alliance formed by Movimiento Ambiental Campesino del Oriente de Caldas (MACO) and Movimiento Socioambiental Kumanday, who view hydropower expansion as a new imposition from the departmental government and a form of dispossession that threatens their livelihoods and territorial continuity. In response, these grassroots movements are advancing a proposal to recognize eastern Caldas as a Territorio Bio-cultural Agrodiverso, a territorial vision centered on alternative hydrosocial relations and the defense of peasant cultural identity and ways of life. Furthermore, they have used institutional means such as popular consultations and open councils to express their opposition to SHP. Through these actions, they have organized around the Right to Say No (RTSN) to contest hydropower projects on their land.

The case of eastern Caldas shows that these mobilizations extend beyond resistance to dispossession; they also constitute acts of self-determination and emancipation. The paper explores how the proposal for a Territorio Bio-cultural Agrodiverso interacts with institutional frameworks and public policies, highlighting the alliances, tensions, and conflicts that emerge in this process.

Contribution short abstract

The struggle for Territories Free of Mining (TFMs) in Brazil is driven by networks defending the right to say no (RTSN) to mining. Local and national actors promote decentralized initiatives to claim TFMs through activism, municipal laws, and transnational RTSN mobilization.

Contribution long abstract

In Brazil, the struggle for Territories Free of Mining (TFMs) is fundamentally based on and connected, both conceptually and through mobilization networks, to collective actions for the right to say no (RTSN) to mining or other predatory enterprises. The National Committee in Defense of Territories against Mining (CNDTM), founded in 2013, is a national network that brings together both nationally recognized organizations with decades of experience and local organizations, often mobilized to confront specific threats. It is within the context of the networks mobilized by the CNDTM that the struggle for TFMs has been articulated as a strategy and frame for collective action.

In 2014, the NGO Fase published a book in which various authors linked to the CNDTM presented case studies from different countries where the principles of the RTSN were mobilized to promote the MFTs agenda. Since then, actions supporting local mobilizations have gathered experiences across the country, some of them successful in implementing TFMs in specific locations. It is important to note that successful experiences have occurred through local (municipal) legislation, with local activism strengthened by a national mobilization critical to the colonial and hegemonic model of extractivism used in Brazil, which in turn is connected to transnational mobilizations for the RTSN. The purpose of participating in this roundtable is to present decentralized experiences of collective action using the RTSN concept to mobilization in defense of the TFMs.