Peacebuilding and rural development in post-conflict

Faculty of Life Sciences Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences

Title:

Peacebuilding and rural development in post-conflict Colombia: A departmental problem and institutional analysis of Caquetá

Master thesis in the study programme:

Integrated Natural Resource Management

Submitted by:

Maximilian Graser

1st examiner (supervisor):

Prof. Dr. Müller, Klaus Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

2nd examiner:

Dr. Sieber, Stefan Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung

Handed in:

23rd of August 2018, Berlin

Acknowledgements I thank ZALF and my supervisors Prof. Dr. Klaus Müller and Dr. Stefan Sieber for their support and the possibility to incorporate my vague idea of doing research on socio-ecological problematics in the process of the Colombian peace agreement into their field of research. Furthermore, I would like to thank the fiat panis foundation, without whose financial support I could not have realised the empirical field stay in Colombia. Many thanks to Michelle Bonatti, Marcos Lana, and Luca Eufemia, who greatly supported me throughout the whole process of my thesis’ elaboration and with whom (Luca) I also spent great times in Colombia. I very much appreciate the help of CIAT, namely of Matthias Jäger, who made my practical field work in Caquetá possible, as well as Geovani Rosas, who opened many doors for contacts and who also was a wonderful accompanying person during my stay in Florencia. Special thanks to Klaus Gierhake, who helped me with his expertise, contacts and encouraging correspondence since the beginning of my study intention.

“It is fundamental to look for integrated solutions that consider the interactions of natural systems among themselves and with social systems. There are not two separate crises, one environmental and another social, but a single and complex socio-environmental crisis. The solution process requires a comprehensive approach to combat poverty, to restore dignity to the excluded and simultaneously to take care of nature” - Pope Francis, in Bogotá in September 2017 (Hacia un ecoevangelio. El llamado ecológico de los papas Benedicto y Francisco, english translation)

I

INDEX LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………….….…….… III LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………….…..….IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………....….....…...V 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Objectives of the study ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Structure of the thesis.......................................................................................... 2 2 CORRESPONDING LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL EMBEDDING .............................. 3 2.1 Approaching rural Colombia and the Amazon ................................................ 3 2.1.1 A brief history of agricultural colonisation in Colombia’s Piedmont and Amazon region .............................................................................................. 3 2.1.2 The definition of “rural” in Colombia today ................................................. 5 2.2 Colombia from conflict to post-conflict – A history about land ...................... 7 2.2.1 FARC-EP and other violent groups in Colombia.......................................... 7 2.2.2 Impact of violent groups in rural Colombia .................................................. 9 2.2.3 Institutionality in conflict-affected rural Colombia .................................... 11 2.2.4 The chance for peace – the agreement with FARC-EP ............................... 12 2.3 Peacebuilding and the environment ................................................................. 14 2.4 Potential scientific contribution to fill knowledge gaps ................................. 18 3 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 19 3.1 Derived research questions and hypothesis..................................................... 19 3.2 Research design – case study ............................................................................ 20 3.3 Case study – Department of Caquetá .............................................................. 22 3.3.1 Description of the department ..................................................................... 22 3.3.2 Caquetá and the civil conflict ...................................................................... 25 3.4 Data collection methods .................................................................................... 27 3.4.1 Semi-structured guided interviews .............................................................. 28 3.4.2 Participant observation and field diary........................................................ 32 3.4.3 Literature research ....................................................................................... 33 3.5 Data analysis methods ....................................................................................... 33 4 RESULTS OF THE EMPIRICAL RESEARCH .................................................................. 36

II

4.1 Defining rural development in Colombia ........................................................ 36 4.2 Actors in rural development of Caquetá ......................................................... 37 4.2.1 Presentation of actors in rural development governance of Caquetá .......... 38 4.2.2 Functions and policy fields of actors........................................................... 39 4.2.3 Interactions within the rural development network..................................... 43 4.3 Problems in rural development – stakeholder perception ............................. 45 4.4 Lessons of the peace process in Caquetá ......................................................... 52 4.5 Challenges associated with the peace agreement implementation ................ 57 4.6 Potential departmental solution paths ............................................................ 60 5 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ........................................................................................... 62 5.1 Problems in rural development – institutional governance structure as meta-problem ..................................................................................................... 62 5.2 Lessons, challenges and action proposals concerning the peace agreement implementation process ..................................................................................... 64 5.3 Departmental solution paths – the environment as peace enhancing element? .............................................................................................................. 70 5.4 Recommendations for further studies ............................................................. 71 5.5 Limitations of the thesis .................................................................................... 73 6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 74 7 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 76 8 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. 87 8.1 Appendix 1: Map of the location of Colombia and its departments ............. 87 8.2 Appendix 2: Level of conflict by municipality in Colombia, protected areas, and forest reserves in 2015 ................................................................................ 88 8.3 Appendix 3: List of interviewed persons and corresponding organisations 89 8.4 Appendix 4: Interview guideline for departmental study .............................. 91 8.5 Appendix 5: Approach for institutional analysis by Gierhake (e.g. used in 2001, not published)........................................................................................... 93

III

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Colombia and its different geographical zones ................................................. 4 Figure 2: Categorization of Colombia (cities and agglomerations, intermediate, rural, dispersed rural)……..……………………….....................…………………..….6 Figure 3: Environmental peacebuilding and the conflict cycle ....................................... 17 Figure 4: Map of Caquetá with municipality boundaries and the capital Florencia ....... 22 Figure 5: Extensive cattle ranching in San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá ...................... 25 Figure 6: left: Guerrilla presence and refugee activities (2005) as well as coca (2001) activities in Caquetá; right: specific guerrilla actions in 2002 ................... 27 Figure 7: Merging rural development definitions of Colombian universities................. 37 Figure 8: Interactions of interviewed stakeholders ......................................................... 44 Figure 9: Problems regarding rural development in Caquetá, ranked by appearances of statements, stated by stakeholders in interviews ........................................ 45 Figure 10: Causes and effects of the institutional core problem ..................................... 47 Figure 11: Landmark of San Vicente del Caguán (man with axe and woman with a baby) ........................................................................................................... 48 Figure 12: Causes and effects of the environmental core problem ................................. 49 Figure 13: Causes and effects of the economic core problem ........................................ 50 Figure 14: Causes and effects of the social core problem ............................................... 51 Figure 15: Causes and effects of infrastructural core problems ...................................... 52 Figure 16: Departmental action proposals for rural development by interviewed stakeholders ................................................................................................ 60 Figure 17: Demonstration against poor health status and weak coca substitution, San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá, October 2017 ............................................. 67 Figure 18: Map of the location of Colombia and its departments................................... 87 Figure 19: Level of conflict by municipality in 2015 ..................................................... 88

IV

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Core points of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and FARC-EP ................................................................................................... 13 Table 2: National rural development knowledge stakeholder's interests touched in the thesis ........................................................................................................... 21 Table 3: Stakeholder representation in interviews .......................................................... 30 Table 4: Interviewed rural development actors in Caquetá ............................................ 38 Table 5: Policy fields and functions of actors in rural development of Caquetá ............ 40 Table 6: Positive and negative lessons from the peace process ...................................... 54 Table 7: Environmental impact of armed groups during conflict period in Caquetá ..... 56 Table 8: List of interviewed persons and corresponding organisations .......................... 89

V

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADR Alpina ANT ART BanAgr CIDER ChamCom

CIAT Corpoa DNP ELN EPL FARC-EP

GAF M-19 MinAgr

MinPlan

PDET

Picachos PNIS

PNN PNUD

Agencia de Desarrollo Rural (Agency of Rural development) Alpina Productos Alimenticios S.A. (Colombian enterprise for food) Agencia Nacional de Tierras (National Agency of Land) Agencia de Renovación del Territorio (Agency of territorial Renovation) Banco Agrario de Colombia (Agricultural Bank of Colombia) Interdisciplinary Centre for Development Studies at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá Cámara de Comercio de Florencia para el Caquetá (Chamber of Commerceof Florencia for Caquetá) International Center for Tropical Agriculture Corpoamazonia Departamento Nacional de Planeación (National Department of Planning) Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army) Ejército Popular de Liberación (Popular Liberation Army) Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People's Army) Governance Analytical Framework Movimiento 19 de Abril (19th of April Movement) Ministerio Departamental de Agricultura Caquetá (Departmental Ministry of Agriculture Caquetá) Ministerio Departamental de Planeación Caquetá (Departmental Ministry for Planning) Programas de Desarrollo con Enfoque Territorial (Programmes for Development with Territorial Focus) Fundación Picachos (Picachos Foundation), NGO Programa Nacional Integral para la Sustitución Voluntaria de cultivos Ilícitos (National Intarated Programme for the Volontary Sustitution of illegal cultivations) Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia (National Natural Parks of Colombia) Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (United Nations Programme for Development)

VI

RCP

SDGs STRCL

UA UAAgrEc UAAgrSci USAID WWF ZALF

Fundación Red Desarrollo y Paz del Caquetá (Foundation Network for Development and Peace of Caquetá), NGO Sustainable Development Goals Secretaría técnica regional de cadenas de carne y leche (Regional technical office for cattle and dairy economy in Caquetá) Universidad de la Amazonia (University of the Amazon) Universidad de la Amazonia – Agricultural Ecology Universidad de la Amazonia – Agricultural Sciences United States Agency for International Development Word Wide Fund For Nature Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research)

1

1 Introduction After more than half a century of violent conflicts, Colombia is in an exceptional process towards peace due to an agreement between the state and the leading guerrilla group FARC-EP, signed and approved in November 2016. The change of power relations, connected to the agreement, opens new governance spaces for advanced land management in rural areas. Environmental criteria and institutional measures could be introduced into land-use questions and thus foster peacebuilding measures (cf. SINUC 2014; MORALES et al. 2017). However, this development also comprises risks of uncontrolled and illicit exploitation of natural resources as state presence in many conflict regions and sectors is still weak (MORALES et al. 2017, STAUB et al. 2016; HOFFMANN 2016). In the aftermath of the conflict, the construction of peace in rural Colombia, therefore, presents a complex process. One of the main challenges depicts the harmonizing “conservation policies with those on rural reform, […] and land restitution” by simultaneously integrating local citizens’ interests and needs (MORALES et al. 2017, p. 7; FES et al. 2016; SINGELNSTEIN 2013), as the manner and leadership of resource governance has a profound impact on peace construction and maintenance in a country (SPORSHEIM MAISTO 2016, cited from CONCA & WALLACE 2012). In the course of this volatile post-conflict situation, the present thesis seeks to approach rural development problems and its institutional structure during the process of peace agreement implementation in Colombia, by focusing on a departmental scale. Therefore, the department of Caquetá in the Amazon region has been chosen. This study is based on a three-month study stay in Colombia and is linked to research interests of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF).

1.1 Objectives of the study The application-oriented and explorative research work follows a social science approach including stakeholder involvement and covers five objectives, that should be answered. They can be sectioned as follows: Firstly, the understanding of rural development in Colombia shall be described, identified and evaluated. Secondly, responsibilities of actors in rural development policies of

2 Caquetá are to be identified, described and evaluated. Thirdly, current rural development problems in Caquetá shall be identified by stakeholder involvement. Fourthly, lessons and challenges of the peace agreement implementation process shall be identified and evaluated, supported by findings on objectives two and three. Finally, solution paths for a sustainable and peace enhancing/maintaining rural development in Caquetá shall be explored, formulated and discussed.

1.2 Structure of the thesis According to the set objectives for the thesis, the following structure can be determined: initially, the theoretical framework and corresponding literature will be presented. Herein, the first subchapter approaches the agricultural colonisation of Colombia’s Amazon region and the official understanding of “rural”, to provide a foundation for an independent definition of rural development, presented in the results. Thereafter, the history of Colombia’s armed groups, the resulting conflict, and its impacts will be discussed, with main concerns towards institutional issues in rural territories, as they represent a main element in the later analysis. Another short chapter introduces the components of the peace agreement, which will be consulted for the discussion part. Afterwards, peacebuilding and its correlation with the environment shall be considered as a potential operational concept in this research matter. The last subchapter illustrates which contributions the present thesis can offer in the current scientific debate. Chapter three contains the methodological approach of the thesis. In the beginning, the research questions and the hypothesis will be defined, whereat the chosen case study research design will be presented and justified. The following subchapter introduces Caquetá as the study site, to provide a comprehension base of the prevailing circumstances in the post-conflict era. Subsequently, the used data collection methods, like semi-structured interviews, will be explained and the data analysis framework demonstrated. In chapter four, the results of the empirical study are presented. The first part depicts the definition of rural development by interviewed knowledge stakeholders, followed by a short description of interviewed actors in the study area. Afterwards, their functions in several policy fields of rural development will be portrayed as well as their interactions in the institutional network. The subsequent chapter analyses perceived rural

3 development problems by the interviewees. Afterwards, lessons and challenges regarding the peace agreement implementation process will be described and own potential departmental solution paths for the future revealed. In chapter five, the results of the empirical investigation will be interpreted, synthesised and evaluated considering findings from the literature and other sources, like grey literature. Afterwards, possible action proposals, as well as recommendations for further studies, shall be derived and experienced limitations outlined. Finally, the conclusions of the study will be presented, incorporating initial objectives.

2 Corresponding literature and theoretical embedding Research on socio-ecological problems in developing and emerging countries has undergone increasing interest in recent years. In places where natural resources are involved in violent disputes, like in Colombia, conflict issues are included as a research factor as well. This chapter provides insights of corresponding literature to tackle the research objectives of the thesis. First, the agricultural colonization of the Amazon and the rural-urban categorisation of Colombia shall be presented. Second, a synopsis of Colombia’s most recent conflict and concomitant impacts, with focus on the institutional circumstances, shall provide a base to understand current problems. The following presentation of the internationally appreciated peace agreement between FARC-EP and the Colombian government in 2016 serves as a source document to evaluate the peace process. Last, peacebuilding as theoretical research frame will be discussed as one solution path for environmentally rooted conflicts, as well as potential scientific contributions to the thematic discussion through the thesis elicited.

2.1 Approaching rural Colombia and the Amazon 2.1.1

A brief history of agricultural colonisation in Colombia’s Piedmont and Amazon region

Colombia is one of the most biodiversity-rich countries in the world and can be divided into seven different geographical zones (see Figure 1). There are two coastal regions, the

4 Pacific lowlands in the west and the Caribbean in the north. Three mountain ridges form the Andean region, ranging from the border with Ecuador in the south up to the very north of the country. The Magdalena river valley and the Catatumbo frontier zone with Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo bay represent rather smaller zones. The east of the country is divided into the Orinoco wetland savanna in the northern part and the Amazon rainforest basin in the south-east of Colombia, embracing one-third of the country’s area.

Figure 1: Colombia and its different geographical zones Source: ETTER et al. 2006, p. 370, modified

The latter region has been neglected for emphasized settlement for many centuries, based on the natural climatic conditions as well as the impenetrability of the region, constrained by the eastern Andean Cordillera and the tropical forest vegetation. First attempts of a permanent settlement have been carried out in the piedmont region of the Amazon in the late 16th century. However, these mainly religiously rooted efforts resulted in a short lifespan, as illnesses and the geographical isolation forced the settlers to abandon the location (GOBERNACIÓN DEL CAQUETÁ 2017). Until the middle of the 19th century, the

5 Amazon region remained unperceived, not only because of difficult access but also because there was a lack of knowledge regarding the natural resource richness of the region. In the late 19th century, rubber exploitation opened space towards the Amazon and first long-term settlements were founded, like Florencia (1902), San Vicente del Caguán (1896) or Puerto Rico (1884) in today’s region of Caquetá. Out of growing national military interest in the eastern territories and such into natural resources exploitation, in the 1930s a further and larger colonisation wave accelerated in the Amazon region, including today’s Caquetá, fortified by the construction of a pivotal country road between Huila and Caquetá. Those were prominently spontaneous movements by destitute agrarian colonists searching for arable land to feed their families (ibidem; BRÜCHER 1970, pp. 97/102). Alongside migration development, an entrepreneurial colonisation of cattle farming took place, which grew over the next decades and became the “economic, social and cultural paradigm [...] of the territory of Caquetá” (GOBERNACIÓN

DEL

CAQUETÁ 2017), but also beyond in most parts of the

Amazon. Similarly, Caquetá was also the objective of the Colombian State for official migration and settlement policies, fortified in the early 1960s (BRÜCHER 1970, p. 97; ARTUNDUAGA BERMEO 1984).

2.1.2

The definition of “rural” in Colombia today

Although the colonisation process commenced approximately one hundred years ago, most of the occupied land in the Amazon is still in a rural state, including other lowlands, like the Pacific region or the Orinoco plains. The Colombian National Department of Planning categorizes the country into four different classes, derived from the city systems. They are defined by the density, the size of the municipality and population distribution between municipality and disperse surrounding region (DNP 2015a, p. 8). The following map shows the distribution of the classes across Colombia (see Figure 2).

6

Figure 2: Categorization of Colombia (cities and agglomerations, intermediate, rural, dispersed rural) Source: DNP 2015a, p. 9

According to this classification, more than 60% of all Colombian municipalities are either rural or rural dispersed, determined through low inhabitant density (