Summary
In June 2024, over 1,500 people gathered in Bolivia for the XI Pan-Amazon Social Forum where a Declaration of the Rights of the Amazon was developed, and subsequently included in the FOSPA mandate, and endorsed by all national and international FOSPA committees on June 15. The Declaration declares that the “Amazon has fundamental rights that are inalienable, inviolable, and non-negotiable” and that “the States of the Amazon region must cooperate to promote and apply these rights, adopting laws and norms that guarantee them.”
The XI FOSPA Mandate is a set of resolutions and commitments adopted by the participants of the 11th Pan-Amazonian Social Forum (XI Foro Social Panamazónico). It summarizes the collective positions and demands of the Indigenous communities, social movements, and organizations dedicated to defending the Amazon basin. Resulting from four thematic assemblies, the Mandate articulates a unified stance against threats to the Amazon and sets a roadmap for future advocacy. A crucial point of the mandate is the recognition of the Amazon as a subject of rights. This approach is essential to restore the water cycle, threatened by deforestation, mining, privatization and commodification policies. It emphasizes the revaluation of ancestral knowledge and water justice, proposing a new social pact that recognizes water as a subject of rights:
“The Amazon basin is essential to restore the water cycle, currently threatened by deforestation, mining, and privatization, commodification and monopolization policies, among other predatory activities imposed on our territories. (…) We propose a new social pact that recognizes water as a subject of rights, through an Andean-Amazonian treaty aimed at preserving its cycle. We demand respect for the forms of social, community and local self-management of water, highlighting the role of Indigenous peoples, women and youth in its protection. We call for the creation of a Permanent Assembly of Andean-Amazonian Peoples to protect, defend and care for water and biodiversity in the Amazon.”
The Declaration was submitted to the authorities of Brazil and Colombia, and officially launched at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) in Cali, Colombia on October 2024. Previously, the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice had ruled in 2018 (STC 4360-2018) that the Amazon is a subject of rights.
Involved Organizations
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2025. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor.https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/the-mandate-of-the-xi-fospa-on-the-rights-of-the-amazon/.
When using our data, please follow the FAIR and CARE Principles for data governance outlined in our Ethics Statement. We are doing our best to be correct in the information we provide, but if you notice any omission or inaccuracy, please report this to us immediately at info@ecojurisprudence.org so we can correct it.
Eco Jurisprudence Tracker is licensed under CC BY 4.0
