LA DÉCLARATION DE TERRITOIRES LIBRES

This guide by Friends of the Earth International provides a compilation of ideas and experiences regarding the declaration of 'free territories'—areas where communities, indigenous peoples, or local governments formally reject specific harmful projects or policies. The document focuses on strategies to resist the 'financialization of nature' (FN), REDD projects, extractive industries, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to protect local autonomy and traditional ways of life.

• The declaration of a free territory is described as a political measure to exercise human rights and the principle of autonomy, allowing communities to decide on the activities and policies affecting their land. It is a process of defending a territory against any activity that violates or weakens the community's desired model of development.
• Declarations of free territories typically occur at one of three stages: prevention (before a project is implemented), execution (during implementation), or consolidation (after a project is finished, often involving the expulsion of the project). Preventive strategies are highlighted as essential for avoiding hasty decisions by providing clear information on the effects of projects linked to resource extraction.
• Common elements of the process for declaring a territory free include the use of preventive strategies, the creation of alternative proposals for 'well-living' (bien vivre), the organization of broad social networks, media strategies to explain the necessity of the declaration, and political actions ranging from local door-to-door outreach to international lobbying.
• In Mesoamerica, the M4 (Mesoamerican Movement against the mining extraction model) has used free territory declarations since 2011 as a preventive strategy. This has led to various local applications: community consultations in Guatemala, municipal structures in El Salvador, and certified agrarian communities or political agreements in Mexico.
• Specific examples of resistance against fracking include campaigns in Spain to declare municipalities free of the practice, and a movement in Australia where over 400 communities declared themselves free of coal and gas fields. In the Netherlands, political declarations by municipalities helped pressure the national government to postpone fracking decisions until 2023.
• The fight against GMOs has seen significant success through free territory declarations. In Costa Rica, 78 out of 81 cantons declared themselves free of GMOs through local government agreements. In Europe, a network of 64 GMO-free regions exists, consisting of regional or local authorities capable of making recognized political decisions.
• The document notes that REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and the financialization of nature (FN) are often harder to oppose than mining because they are presented as conservation efforts that provide payment. In Costa Rica, indigenous groups in Talamanca declared their territory 'free of REDD' after identifying risks such as community division and restrictions on forest use.

APA

Rojas, I. (2018). LA DÉCLARATION DE TERRITOIRES LIBRES. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaration-des-territoires-libres_Amis-de-la-terre-international.pdf

Chicago

Rojas, Isaac. LA DÉCLARATION DE TERRITOIRES LIBRES. Friends of the Earth International, 2018. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaration-des-territoires-libres_Amis-de-la-terre-international.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rojas |first1=Isaac |title=LA DÉCLARATION DE TERRITOIRES LIBRES |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=February 2018 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaration-des-territoires-libres_Amis-de-la-terre-international.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rojas2018dclaration, author = {Rojas, Isaac}, title = {{LA DÉCLARATION DE TERRITOIRES LIBRES}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2018}, month = feb, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/La-declaration-des-territoires-libres_Amis-de-la-terre-international.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }