Green extractivism in Colombia: a scoping review on indigenous rights and livelihood impacts, and policy and social movement responses

Gabriela Cabana and Katharina Richter

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We examine the impacts arising from net-zero related extraction of metals, mineral and clean energy on indigenous rights and livelihoods in Colombia, and identify policy and social movement responses. A scoping review method combined database searches in SCOPUS, Policy Commons and Overton with a grey literature search. In total, we screened abstracts and titles of 1050 documents, assessed 95 full-text records for eligibility, and included 34 documents for final review. We identified two core themes: green dispossession and renewable energy extraction impacts in La Guajira, sub divided into cultural, socio-political and environmental impacts; and resistance strategies to green extractivism, sub-divided into self-provision as part of a popular energy transition and holistic critiques to transition narratives and plans. National social movement responses were directed towards the left-wing government of Gustavo Petro, elected in 2022. International responses focussed on the coloniality of critical raw material extraction. Two main policy responses by the Petro government aimed to expand community access to energy services and create a Just Energy Transition roadmap. We conclude that Global South calls for the Global North to reduce resource consumption are becoming more prominent. Furthermore, we found some conceptual inconsistencies in this literature based on a routinisation of case studies and an epistemic poverty of dualistic social science concepts which tend not to consider non human actors in extractivist dispossession/degradation, especially in indigenous territories. We recommend future research employ relational theoretical frameworks to develop cultural analyses of extractivist dispossession/degradation, and diversify the Colombian geographical focus beyond La Guajira.

Keywords: Colombia; critical raw materials; energy transition; green extractivism; indigenous rights; just energy transition; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2026-03-31
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Published in Extractive Industries and Society, 31, March, 2026, 25. ISSN: 2214-790X

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