The country’s long-running conflict continues to impact life in many rural areas, which also face threats from illegal mining and other extractive industries.

Every morning we hug the river,” says Alexander Rodriquez Mena of the embrace shared by his people and their beloved River Atrato.

An environmentalist who's been fighting for the protection of Colombia's Atrato River has spoken to FRANCE 24 about why the waterway is vital for the environment and for the local Indigenous ...

Peru’s Marañón River was made a legal person, granting it the rights to be free-flowing and free of contamination. Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari, who was central to the campaign, has won the ...

Scots aid workers have told of their “shocking” journey to a river in Colombia notorious for illegal gold mining - and deemed the most dangerous place on Earth for eco activists. The Atrato ...

Ramon Cartagena, a 59-year-old environmentalist and guardian near the river's source in El Carmen de Atrato, is equally despairing. "There is no life at all in the river," he said.

But eight years later, the Atrato is still dotted with illegal dredging barges that churn up the riverbed in search of gold. New armed groups have filled the void left by FARC fighters. Locals still ...

Many initiatives by ethnic communities in impoverished Choco in northwestern Colombia aim to fight back against the environmental devastation inflicted upon the Atrato, a river that weaves around ...