Sowing Economies of Peace: Community‑Led Pathways to Peace in Colombia

Nicolás Parra Sánchez, Climalab (Colombia)

In Colombia, the issue of land rights is characterised by violent dispossession and deep territorial inequalities that particularly affect campesino communities, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities and rural women. Decades of armed conflict, the expansion of extractive industries and the presence of armed groups have led to forced displacement, the dispossession of millions of hectares and high levels of informality in land tenure. Added to this is institutional weakness in ensuring legal certainty, access to an up-to-date land registry, effective restitution and the protection of collective territories, which perpetuates agrarian conflicts and limits sustainable rural development. Women face additional barriers due to discrimination in access to property, lesser recognition of their rights and an excessive burden of unpaid care work.

Although the country has made progress with regulatory frameworks such as the 2016 Peace Agreement and policies on land restitution and formalisation, major challenges remain in ensuring comprehensive rural reform and equitable access to land. Implementation has been slow and uneven, particularly in areas of high conflict and illegal economies, where threats against social leaders and territorial defenders persist.

This presentation will reflect on the Sowing Economies of Peace initiative which Climalab, Christian Aid and other NGOs are working together on, which equips women and youth from marginalised backgrounds through Community Peacebuilding Schools, Seed Capital Funds, and Territorial Defence Observatories, to address both the economic drivers of conflict and the structural exclusion that undermines sustainable peace.