DECLARACIóN DE TERRITORIOS LIBRES

The document outlines the conceptual and practical framework for declaring 'free territories' as an exercise of autonomy and human rights. It provides a strategic approach to resisting the 'extractivist model'—specifically targeting REDD+, mining, fracking, and GMOs—by documenting successful community-led initiatives across Latin America, Europe, Australia, and other regions. The guide emphasizes that these declarations are not merely legal acts but political processes requiring permanent organization, public legitimacy, and the proposal of sustainable alternatives for local development.

• Declaring a territory free is defined as a 'práctica de autonomía' and a political tool to exercise collective human rights, including the right to timely information, citizen participation, and self-determination.
• The process of declaring a territory free can occur at three distinct stages: prevention (before implementation), execution (during implementation), and consolidation (after a project is completed or expelled).
• The Mesoamerican Movement against the Mining Extractivist Model (M4) has used free territory declarations since 2011 as a preventive strategy, adapting the implementation to national contexts such as community consultations in Guatemala and municipal structures in El Salvador.
• In Australia, the 'Gasfield Free Community' movement led to more than 400 communities declaring themselves free of coal and gas fields, using door-to-door surveys where over 95% of residents in some areas supported the declaration.
• Efforts to declare territories free of GMOs have seen significant success in Costa Rica, where 78 of 81 cantons adopted such declarations through local government agreements.
• In the European Union, as of early 2006, over 170 regions and 4,500 local governments across at least 25 countries had declared themselves GMO-free zones.

APA

Rojas, I. (2018). DECLARACIóN DE TERRITORIOS LIBRES. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaracion-de-territorios-libres_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf

Chicago

Rojas, Isaac. DECLARACIóN DE TERRITORIOS LIBRES. Friends of the Earth International, 2018. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaracion-de-territorios-libres_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rojas |first1=Isaac |title=DECLARACIóN DE TERRITORIOS LIBRES |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=February 2018 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaracion-de-territorios-libres_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rojas2018declaracin, author = {Rojas, Isaac}, title = {{DECLARACIóN DE TERRITORIOS LIBRES}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2018}, month = feb, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaracion-de-territorios-libres_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }