Check our publications
In addition to our work with communities and collectives, RICO seeks to contribute to social, academic and policy debates in our areas of work through research and outreach material.
Book: Outlooks from below for just energy transitions
In the hegemonic discourse on energy transition, a techno-economic understanding predominates, reducing it to a technological change in the generation of energy by renewable and clean sources, and prioritising the construction of mega-projects in solar, wind or hydroelectric energy, without abandoning the exploitation of fossil fuels. Strong criticisms have been raised against this perspective, particularly from the territories most affected by mining-extractive projects, in indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant voices, who demand a substantial transformation from and for the local level.
In the framework of a process of participatory research and dialogue of knowledge with four rural and ethnic communities in the coal regions of the departments of La Guajira, Cesar and Boyacá, this book explores these demands from three interrelated perspectives: (1) gender, (2) territory and (3) community sovereignty. Based on these axes of discussion, various grassroots impulses to build energy transitions beyond fossil fuels in Colombia are identified. Of these, three types of many are differentiated: (1) mining-extractive transitions, (2) energy democratisation and (3) broad and just transitions.
We thank the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Colombia (FESCOL), the Transnational Centre for Just Transitions in Energy, Climate and Sustainability (TRAJECTS) and the Editorial of the Universidad del Magdalena for all their support and dedication.
Documentary: Community Re-existence: from the Caribbean to the páramo
Credits: Kike Montenegro
Podcast: Voces Reflexivas - Sentipensando Cuerpo y Territorio
Produced at the peak of the pandemic in 2020, the podcast “Voces Reflexivas – Sentipensando Cuerpo y Territorio” (Reflective Voices – Sentipensando Cuerpo y Territorio) gathers the voices of women from the departments of Cesar, La Guajira, and Boyacá (Colombia), speaking out about their specific territorial realities in aspects such as gender, productivity, subsistence, and associative experiences for community sovereignty.
This podcast was one of the products of the pedagogy “Community Re-existence: Energy Transition, Gender and Sovereignty”, which we carried out with the Energy Transition Seminar of the University of Magdalena and the Men and Masculinities Collective. It accompanies the book “Impulsos desde abajo para las transiciones energéticas justas: género, territorio y soberanía” (Impulses from below for just energy transitions: gender, territory and sovereignty).
Otros videos
Campaign: Covid-19 in rural areas
Understanding that rural areas are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to various factors, such as unemployment, environmental destruction and state neglect, this series identifies some recommendations for the prevention of the virus in these areas.
Hand in hand with our various processes of strengthening our own economy and access to health inputs in 2020, we coordinated educational and awareness-raising efforts in vulnerable rural territories in Colombia and Guatemala. This campaign sought to inform about the nature of the virus, about measures to prevent it at a personal level, and some ideas for community organisation to delay the arrival of the virus, treat the sick and avoid misinformation.