Environmental offsets in Colombia: Policy, practice and conflict
Photo: Jane Feeney
This research examines environmental offsetting in policy and practice in Colombia, tracing the evolution of offsetting policy since the 1970s and the drivers behind the latest biodiversity offset regulations.
Crossing the landscapes of Colombia, from rural fincas in the Andes and the valley of the Magdalena Medio, to the offices of industry, government and NGOs, this thesis examines the subject of offsetting and the meanings of biodiversity from different angles, revealing the importance of biodiversity as a national asset, a symbol of identity and inseparable from cultural diversity.
The thesis provides seven recommendations for policy makers and practitioners:
Ensure that offsets do not compromise biodiversity.
Maintenance and long-term monitoring of offsets is essential.
Address the social impacts of offsets and promote participatory and inclusive conservation and restoration.
Seek resolutions to the situation of campesinos in protected areas and address land grabs by large landowners.
Protect community leaders and environmental defenders.
Promote greater transparency and disrupt the narrative.
Moving beyond offsets: Support just transitions across scales.
This doctoral research was carried out between 2016-2021 at the Geography Department, Trinity College Dublin, funded by the Irish Research Council (grant GOIPG/2016/510).
Peer-reviewed publications:
Feeney, J. K. (2023) Biodiversity conservation under green extractivism and armed neoliberalism in Colombia, Journal of Political Ecology 30(1). https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.5495
Feeney, J. K. (2023) A dam, a park, and offsets: analyzing socio-ecological conflict in Santander, Colombia, through political ecology and Galtung's conflict triangle, Journal of Political Ecology 30(1), 166–190. https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.4685
Thesis:
Feeney, J. K. (2021) Environmental offsets in Colombia: Policy, practice and conflict. PhD thesis. Trinity College Dublin, School of Natural Sciences. http://hdl.handle.net/2262/96611
Briefing note in English and Spanish:
Compensación de la Biodiversidad - Nota Informativa
Offsetting Biodiversity - Briefing Note
Media articles:
Colombia faces challenge to build peace without sacrificing its famed biodiversity (The Conversation)
Displaced by a dam, women defenders fight for their land rights in Colombia (Mongabay)
