After years of advocacy from Indigenous communities and human rights organizations, Colombia has established a landmark protected territory of more than one million hectares in the southern Amazon — the country’s first area created specifically to shield an uncontacted Indigenous group from outside interference. The Yuri-Passé people, who have lived in deliberate isolation in the forests between the Caquetá and Putumayo Rivers, now have formal legal recognition of their right to remain that way.
At a glance
- Yuri-Passé territory: The newly designated zone covers over 1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) in Colombia’s Amazonas department, near the borders of Peru and Brazil, and prohibits economic development and forced human contact.
- Indigenous-led advocacy: Neighboring communities who knew about the isolated groups spent more than a decade building the evidence and diplomatic relationships needed to push the government toward formal protection — the state followed their lead, not the other way around.
- Biodiversity protection: The territory overlaps with Río Puré National Park, a region home to more than 600 recorded species, including the oncilla, giant armadillo, and giant anteater.
A long road to recognition
The path to this moment stretches back decades. In 1969 C.E., military officials captured an Indigenous family in the area who appeared to be living in isolation, brought them briefly to a nearby town, then released them back into the forest. After that, official evidence of isolated groups went quiet for years.
Neighboring Indigenous communities always knew these groups existed. But distrust of the government meant they rarely said so openly, worried about what official attention might bring. That began to shift in 2010 C.E., when mounting pressure from illegal mining and organized crime pushed those communities to approach the government — not to invite contact, but to demand protection.
That appeal led to a formal research project aimed at documenting the Yuri-Passé’s existence and building the legal case for a dedicated territory. A 2018 C.E. government decree created the framework for “intangible zones” — areas where the rights of isolated peoples could be legally recognized and protected within or adjacent to national parks. With that foundation in place, civil society groups, researchers, and Indigenous communities were able to finalize the new territory.
Why Indigenous leadership matters here
One of the most significant aspects of this outcome isn’t just what was created — it’s how it came about. According to the Amazon Conservation Team, which helped facilitate the process, the entire initiative was driven by Indigenous peoples from the beginning. The government didn’t design a policy and then consult affected communities at the end. Indigenous authorities shaped the framework, gathered the evidence, and brought the state along.
“It wasn’t the state that did the whole process and then set up the consultation with Indigenous authorities at the end. It was the other way around,” an Amazon Conservation Team spokesperson told Mongabay.
That distinction carries real weight. It sets a precedent not only for Colombia but for how governments across the Amazon basin — and globally — might approach the protection of isolated peoples. The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs estimates there are more than 100 uncontacted or voluntarily isolated Indigenous groups in the Amazon region alone, most of them without formal territorial protections.
What the territory does — and what it still needs
The designated zone includes a buffer area adjacent to Río Puré National Park, designed to limit human disturbances at the edges of the territory. Economic activity and forced contact are explicitly prohibited within its boundaries.
But the territory faces real challenges. Río Puré National Park has had no government rangers on the ground since 2019 C.E., when threats from organized crime made physical presence too dangerous. The park currently relies on remote monitoring technology and Indigenous community surveillance — a fragile arrangement in a region where land defenders face serious risks. The new territory will also go without rangers for now.
Advocates are hoping the formal recognition will translate into renewed government attention and resources — and that rangers will eventually return. “The park right now is orphaned, in a way,” the Amazon Conservation Team spokesperson said. The designation may not solve that immediately, but it creates a legal platform from which to demand more.
A model worth watching
Colombia’s move comes at a moment when international pressure to protect uncontacted peoples is growing. Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador each have frameworks of varying strength for isolated Indigenous territories, but enforcement remains inconsistent and funding thin. Colombia’s process — built from the ground up by Indigenous communities — offers a different kind of template.
The territory also protects one of the most ecologically intact stretches of the western Amazon, a region that scientists have identified as critical for carbon storage and biodiversity. Protecting the rights of the Yuri-Passé, it turns out, also means protecting the forest itself.
Whether this becomes a genuine turning point depends on what follows the designation — funding, enforcement, and sustained political will. But the territory is real, the rights are on paper, and the communities who fought for this outcome for over a decade now have something they didn’t have before: a legal foundation to stand on.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Mongabay
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Indigenous land rights get a major push ahead of COP30
- Ghana expands marine protection at Cape Three Points
- The Good News for Humankind archive on indigenous rights
About this article
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