UDTR — Radar mondial des droits de la Nature

Stewardship of nature: from one story to another. Stewardship, territorialities and biocultural heritage in the Colombian context

Identification

Clé publique

doi:10.4000/16gen

Auteurs

Fabien Girard · Patricia Guzmán Aguilera

Année déclarée

2026

Langue déclarée

en

Type source

ART

Première détection

2026-11-09T19:19:01.026866+00:00

Dernière observation des métadonnées

2026-11-09T19:19:01.026866+00:00

Dernière vérification HTTP

Non effectuée

Institutions déclarées par la source

Centre de Recherches Juridiques · Institut universitaire de France · Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche · Université Grenoble Alpes

Résumé documentaire — langue originale

Among contemporary environmentalist tropes that have gained significant political and legal traction, the concepts of stewardship of nature and biocultural diversity occupy a prominent position. From this foundation, a long thread can be traced leading to the doctrine of biocultural rights, as enshrined in the landmark Atrato case of the Constitutional Court of Colombia in 2016.However, it is also possible, as proposed in this article, to offer an alternative history of stewardship and bioculturalism, one that has been unfolding for several decades; a history inseparable from practices of emancipation aimed at the reappropriation of nature and the reinvention of territorialities – practices that similarly align with the search for ‘alternatives to modernity,’ decolonial thought, and integrative concepts of territory, territorialization, and territorialities, set against the backdrop of socio-territorial movements.Based on a study of the conceptual shifts and reworkings taking place in legal texts and case law, the article demonstrates how, through the mobilisation of ‘biocultural heritage’, stewardship and bioculturality provide a framework for accommodating several legal-political claims that are highly prominent within activist and intellectual circles in Latin America in general, and in Colombia in particular. These include, firstly, the challenge to the Western model of private ownership and, conversely, the promotion and defense of forms of social appropriation of ‘places’ of life or being. Secondly, by drawing on the political dimension of territory – freed from its statocentrism – stewardship and bioculturality expand demands for autonomy and sovereignty beyond the protected category of indigenous peoples, without directly relying on the much-contested ‘right to territory.’The Colombian case offers a rich vantage point due to the interpretative dynamism of the Colombian Constitutional Court, the enshrinement of biocultural rights, and recent legislative initiatives concerning territorialities and biocultural heritage.

Identifiants

HAL

hal-05715222

DOI

10.4000/16gen

ISSN

1626-0252

Repères documentaires

Famille documentaire

Doctrine

Types déclarés par les sources

ART

Juridictions étudiées — sources explicites

CO

Entités naturelles mentionnées

Territoire

Les mentions d’entités ne constituent pas une preuve de reconnaissance juridique. La juridiction étudiée est distincte du pays d’affiliation des auteurs.

Sources

HAL · Document 1 · Document 2 · Document 3

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.4000/16gen
• HAL · https://hal.science/hal-05715222
• Document · https://hal.science/hal-05715222v1

Statut documentaire

Validée documentairement

Bibliothèque