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.