On November 5, the Environmental Law Program will host a virtual panel examining the evolving landscape of Indigenous peoples’ rights to territorial control across Latin America. The event will bring together leading scholars and practitioners to discuss how international and domestic legal frameworks are addressing ongoing tensions between state-driven development, environmental protection, and Indigenous self-determination.

Panelists will explore diverse national experiences—from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia—highlighting the complex interaction between law, politics, and policy. Topics will include disputes over control of development projects in Indigenous territories, the implementation and politics of Free, Prior and Informed Consultation (FPIC), the integration of ancestral fire management practices into environmental governance, and the effects of security crises on collective Indigenous rights.

The discussion aims to shed light on how evolving interpretations of international law and regional jurisprudence can strengthen participatory governance, promote intercultural dialogue, and ensure that Indigenous communities play a central role in shaping sustainable development and climate resilience strategies in Latin America.

Panelists

Raquel Z. Yrigoyen Fajardo (Peru), Ph.D. in Law, University of Barcelona; Professor, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru; Member, International Institute on Law and Society (IIDS).

• Presentation: The Dispute over the Control of Development in Indigenous Territories: What Does International Law Say? This presentation explains why one of the region’s biggest conflicts stems from “development projects” in Indigenous territories and examines international law’s evolving paradigm from Indigenous subordination to Indigenous self-determination of development, highlighting jurisprudence from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights requiring states to obtain Indigenous consent.

Lorenza Fontana (Italy), Professor of Political Science, University of Turin.

• Presentation: Recognition for Whom? The Politics of Free, Prior and Informed Consultation (FPIC) in the Andes: This talk critically examines FPIC implementation in Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia, focusing on ambiguities around ethnic identity boundaries, the inclusion of peasant communities, and how political dynamics shape rights and access to participation.

Carolina López R. (Ecuador), LL.M.; Coordinator of Public Policy and Governance, Amazonía sin Fuego Program, MAATE.

• Presentation: The Principle of Interculturality in the Regulation of Integrated Fire Management in Ecuador: This presentation explores how Ecuador’s Integrated Fire Management approach (recognized in law since 2019) has begun to incorporate ancestral fire practices into national policy, improving forest fire prevention and promoting intercultural participation in climate and environmental governance.

Moderator: Giovanna Gismondi, Visiting Associate Professor and Fellow for the Environmental Law Program at the George Washington University Law School

Register for the Event Here