In the heart of the dry tropical forest, Maria Elena Aguilar Uriana walks past towering cacti, her ancestors\u2019 graves, and patterned clothes blowing in the wind. Her brow is furrowed, her hands fixed on her hips. She points to a former watering hole, now nothing but dust.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur children are malnourished and dying,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s all because of the mining. It has destroyed our landscape, our homes, our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Uriana fears history is repeating itself. In Colombia<\/a>\u2019s far north-eastern corner, ambitious energy projects are colliding with decades of extractive conflict.<\/p>\n The Way\u00fau, the country\u2019s largest Indigenous group, say their territory in the arid La Guajira has long been shaped by outside interests \u2013 first by coal mining and now through renewable energy development. Leaders say the energy transition is repeating an old pattern: advancing national and corporate priorities while sidelining consent and control over land and water.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were rich in animals and land, but the government\u2019s energy projects and mining have put us on the verge of extinction,\u201d says Jos\u00e9 Silva Duarte, president of Naci\u00f3n Way\u00fau, a human rights movement representing the group. \u201cDevelopment in the interests of the country has brought nothing but misery for the ethnic peoples of La Guajira, Cesar and Magdalena.\u201d<\/p>\n Towering over Way\u00fau territory is Cerrej\u00f3n, one of the world\u2019s largest open-pit coalmines. Operating for decades, the mine has transformed vast stretches of land. Campaigners have long raised concerns<\/a> about its environmental and social impacts<\/a>, including water pollution and the displacement of communities.<\/p>\n Yukpa children playing football. The community has faced increased malnutrition and respiratory issues in recent years, which they blame on miningThe railway used to haul coal across Wayu\u0301u lands to the Caribbean coast<\/p>\n Coal dust from the mine, Duarte says, settles over the land and on to the Way\u00fau\u2019s herds. \u201cWhen our people slaughter an animal, they find coal dust in its lungs,\u201d he says, blaming a train line<\/a> that hauls coal to the Caribbean coast. \u201cNow imagine if they were to unclog our lungs, what would they find?\u201d<\/p>\n double quotation markAll of our children get sick now, and the elderly too. Before we could fish and grow beans, but now our land is sickQuiroz Rodr\u00edguez<\/p>\n Coal mining requires vast amounts of water, which local people say has intensified the region\u2019s already chronic water scarcity. The climate crisis<\/a> \u2013 and prolonged droughts \u2013 has compounded the turmoil. Many families now rely on water deliveries provided by the state or the mining company, walk great distances to wells<\/a>, or say they are left to drink from contaminated sources.<\/p>\n The worsening conditions have forced many people to migrate to urban centres<\/a> or across borders in search of work and food<\/a>. Leaders say displacement is eroding cultural practices and social structures built over centuries.<\/p>\n \u201cOur people have already had to move once before, when the mining started in the 80s. I fear that soon we will have to move again,\u201d says Luz Mila Uriana, 26. \u201cWhat will happen to us?\u201d<\/p>\n Cerrej\u00f3n, owned and operated by the UK-listed mining company Glencore, says it is committed to safeguarding the wellbeing of neighbouring communities, operates an air-quality monitoring system, and takes measures to minimise dust generation.<\/p>\n The company also rejects claims that it negatively affects water. Regarding the displacement of Way\u00fau communities, it says it has conducted land purchases in accordance with Colombian legislation.<\/p>\n Way\u00fau girl Luz Neida Elena, 10, fears her family will have to move away<\/p>\n In the neighbouring Cesar department \u2013 Colombia\u2019s biggest coal-producing region \u2013 the Yukpa Indigenous people tell a similar story, saying decades of large-scale mining have devastated their environment. They say their territory has been fenced off and rivers diverted<\/a>, cutting their access to the resources their survival depends on.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have had to stop fishing in most areas because coal-mining companies diverted huge stretches of their rivers,\u201d says Edward \u00c1lvarez, a lawyer for the Yukpa. \u201cThe fauna and flora have been contaminated or cordoned off, so they no longer have much to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n Near the border with Venezuela, people in one village say fish have disappeared from their rivers, and crops now struggle to grow. \u201cWhen I was a child, our river used to be full of fish, but now there are none,\u201d says Luz Eneida Quiroz Rodr\u00edguez, 32.<\/p>\n The Yukpa people say their waterways, such as this sacred lagoon, have become contaminated due to mining<\/p>\n Community leaders say the environmental destruction has triggered a severe malnutrition crisis<\/a>. Dozens of Yukpa children have died since 2023, according to Indigenous authorities.<\/p>\n Quiroz Rodr\u00edguez lost her three-year-old son, Carlos Daniel, to malnutrition in 2022. \u201cAll of our children get sick now, and the elderly too,\u201d she says. \u201cWe do not have enough food. Before we could fish and grow beans, but now our land is sick.\u201d<\/p>\n Colombia\u2019s national mining agency says it is committed to ensuring that any mining development respects human rights and Indigenous territories. Yet for many affected communities, these commitments ring hollow. They say the damage left by decades of coal extraction has irrevocably altered their lands.<\/p>\n The desert-like tropical dry forest, home to the Way\u00fau community, is swept by some of the strongest winds in the region<\/p>\n Now, they fear that new energy projects risk deepening existing wounds.<\/p>\n Colombia is implementing its \u201cjust energy transition policy<\/a>\u201d, which aims to gradually expand renewable energy while existing oil and coal production continues, at the same time promising to support vulnerable groups.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe have always said that projects are welcome. But it must be just, fair and equitableJos\u00e9 Silva Duarte, Naci\u00f3n Way\u00fau<\/p>\n The strategy is a centrepiece of leftist President Gustavo Petro\u2019s climate agenda and has been promoted internationally as a model for energy-exporting countries seeking to decarbonise without triggering economic collapse.<\/p>\n La Guajira has become central to these plans. Swept by some of the strongest winds in the Caribbean, the region has attracted dozens of proposed windfarm projects, many backed by government incentives, multinational energy companies and international investors.<\/p>\n A windfarm dwarfs the ancestral graveyard of the Way\u00fau people in La Guajira <\/p>\n Colombia\u2019s Mining and Energy Planning Unit has said the region<\/a> could generate about 15 gigawatts of wind energy \u2013 enough to power an estimated 37.5m homes each year.<\/p>\n The Way\u00fau\u2019s concerns come as Colombia hosted the first international conference on the phaseout of fossil fuels in April,<\/a> a flagship event aimed at helping oil-dependent developing countries transition.<\/p>\n Indigenous leaders fear that the cumulative impact \u2013 decades of mining followed by large-scale wind developments \u2013 will place further strain on land and water resources. \u201cWe, as Indigenous peoples<\/a>, do not oppose projects within our territory. We have always said that projects are welcome,\u201d says Duarte. \u201cBut it must be just, fair and equitable. We cannot allow communities to be deceived with bags of food and water.\u201d<\/p>\n