Mapping Normative Flows: For Dynamic Strengthening of Local Community Protections through Water in the Americas

Adriana Daza Camacho, Université de Montréal (Canada)
François-Xavier Saluden, Université de Montréal (Canada)

Mapping normative flows: for dynamic reinforcement through water
of protections for local communities in the Americas
Adriana Daza Camacho and François-Xavier Saluden

Summary:

The extension of the scope of application of the norms of national and international law on human rights and the environment, as well as the emergence of norms based on a bio-cultural paradigm, reveals a vector normative dynamic.
This evolution makes it possible to identify growing anchors in the material dimensions of human life, in particular within local or animist communities. Their joint and comparative analysis between three distinct systems,
Colombia, Canada and the inter-American system, allows for a better understanding of the
basic movements as well as local specificities, with a view to more
predictable and holistic protection.

[Intervention in French] The expansion of the scope of application of national and
international human rights and environmental law, as well as the emergence of norms
grounded in a biocultural paradigm, points to a dynamic shift in normative
frameworks. This observation also allows us to identify how these norms are
increasingly rooted in a growing number of material aspects of human life, particularly
within local or animist communities. A joint and comparative analysis of three distinct
systems, Colombia, Canada and the Inter-American system, enables us to map
underlying trends and local specificities, paving the way for more predictable and
holistic protection.