A group of indigenous and afro-descendant communities in the Nariño region of Colombia has successfully taken legal action to suspend the national glyphosate aerial fumigation program, which was set to re-start in 2021.

The Colombian Government’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP) of the fumigation program identified a number of municipalities in December 2020, in which they were set to start the controversial aerial fumigation program using glyphosate-based herbicides to control coca crops.

However, a group of indigenous and afro-descendant communities in the Nariño region filed a tutela in the Supreme Court of Pasto, to suspend the aerial spraying due to the unknown direct health and economic consequences on local communities. The Supreme Court agreed with the tutela and suspended the EMP last week.

In addition to the recent tutela, in September, the global Center for Reproductive Rights and its local partners at the Cali, Colombia-based Universidad del Valle published a research report