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The Atrato River () is a river of northwestern Colombia. It rises in the slopes of the Western Cordillera and flows almost due north to the
Gulf of Urabá The Gulf of Urabá is a gulf on the northern coast of Colombia. It is part of the Caribbean Sea. It is a long, wide inlet located on the coast of Colombia, close to the connection of the continent to the Isthmus of Panama. The town of Turbo, Co ...
(or Gulf of Darién), where it forms a large, swampy
delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...
. Its course crosses the
Chocó Department Choco Department is a department of Western Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It ...
, forming that department's border with neighboring Antioquia in two places. Its total length is about , and it is navigable as far as
Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in Western Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of 3,337.5 km² and a population of 129,237, predominantly Afro Colombian, including Zambo ...
(400 km / 250 mi), the capital of the department.


Watershed of the Atrato River

The river’s total length is about , and it is navigable as far as
Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in Western Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of 3,337.5 km² and a population of 129,237, predominantly Afro Colombian, including Zambo ...
(400 km / 250 mi), the capital of the department. The basin occupies an area of and has an average annual precipitation of >5,000 mm/year that reaches up to 12,000 mm/year in the upper basin. Flowing through a narrow valley between the Cordillera and coastal range, it has only short tributaries, the principal ones being the Truandó, the Sucio, and the Murrí rivers. The gold and
platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platin ...
mines of Chocó line some of its confluence, and the river sands are
auriferous The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue giv ...
. Mining and its toxic leavings have adversely affected river and environmental quality, damaging habitat for many species and affecting the ethnic groups: the predominantly
Afro-Colombian Afro-Colombians or African-Colombians ( es, afrocolombianos, links=no) are Colombians of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent (Blacks, Mulattoes, Pardos, and Zambos). History Africans were enslaved in the early 16th Century in Colombi ...
and Native American
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
s who live along the river. The river is one of the few ways to move around in the Chocó region. Northwestern Colombia encompasses an area of great diversity in wildlife. During the Pleistocene era at the height of the Atrato river, where it intersected the Cauca- Magdalena, the area was covered by a sea. It is proposed that this created a geographic barrier that may have caused many species to diverge through the process of
allopatric speciation Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...
. For example, Philip Hershkovitz proposed that the
cotton-top tamarin The cotton-top tamarin (''Saguinus oedipus'') is a small New World monkey weighing less than . This New World monkey can live up to 24 years, but most of them die by 13 years. One of the smallest primates, the cotton-top tamarin is easily recogn ...
(''Saguinus oedipus'') and the
white-footed tamarin The white-footed tamarin (''Saguinus leucopus'') is a tamarin species endemic to Colombia. It is a silvery brown colour with pale streaks and russet underparts, and is very similar in appearance to the cotton-top tamarin, from which it is separa ...
(''Saguinus leocopus'') diverged because of the rise of the Atrato, and today they are principally separated by the river. File:Rio Atrato.JPG, The Atrato River File:Medio Atrato .jpg, View from a side branch, in the Medio Atrato region File:Atrato river Medio Atrato region.jpg, The river seen from above, Medio Atrato region.


History

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
and the Atrato rivers attracted considerable attention as part of a feasible route for a trans-isthmian canal in Colombia.
William Kennish William Kennish (1799 – March 19, 1862) was an engineer, inventor, explorer, scientist, and poet, known primarily for inventions developed while he served in the British Royal Navy (1821–1841). They ranged from improvements for artillery to nav ...
, an engineer and inventor from the Isle of Man and
Royal British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fra ...
veteran, proposed an aqueduct making use of the Atrato River and its tributary, the Truando River, to cross the Colombian isthmus. After publishing a report in 1855 on this proposal for a New York firm, he was chosen to guide a US military expedition to explore and survey the proposed project in Colombia. In the early 20th century, the United States built the Panama Canal instead. In November 2016, the
Constitutional Court of Colombia The Constitutional Court of Colombia ( es, Corte Constitucional de Colombia) is the supreme constitutional court of Colombia. Part of the Judiciary, it is the final appellate court for matters involving interpretation of the Constitution with ...
declared the
legal personhood Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
of the Atrato River possessing the rights to ‘’protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration.'' While the
Colombian Constitution The Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991 ( es, Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991), is the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia. It was promulgated in Constitutional Gazette number 114 on Thursday, July 4, 1991, and is also ...
does not explicitly recognize
Rights of Nature Rights of nature or Earth rights is a legal and jurisprudential theory that describes inherent rights as associated with ecosystems and species, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights. The rights of nature concept challenges twentie ...
oNbr>Judge Jorge Iván Palacio
ruled that it is a set of ‘’biocultural rights’’ that can be inferred from guarantees in the constitution for biodiversity, cultural, and humanitarian protections. The ‘biocultural rights’’ claim emphasized that the cultural rights of Colombian Indigenous and
Afro-Colombian Afro-Colombians or African-Colombians ( es, afrocolombianos, links=no) are Colombians of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent (Blacks, Mulattoes, Pardos, and Zambos). History Africans were enslaved in the early 16th Century in Colombi ...
citizens, and the biological rights of the Atrato River are inextricably linked. As a result, Judge Palacio ruled that the biocultural rights should support the conservation, restoration, and sustainable development of the Atrato River The ruling transpired from the degradation of the river basin from large-scale mining and illegal logging practices, which severely impacted the traditional ways of life for
Afro-Colombians Afro-Colombians or African-Colombians ( es, afrocolombianos, links=no) are Colombians of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent (Blacks, Mulattoes, Pardos, and Zambos). History Africans were enslaved in the early 16th Century in Colombi ...
and Indigenous people. Illegal logging changed the flow of the river, and illicit mining increased the level of toxic chemicals mercury_and_ mercury_and_cyanide">Mercury_(element).html"_;"title=".e.,_Mercury_(element)">mercury_and_cyanide.html" ;"title="cyanide.html" ;"title="Mercury_(element).html" ;"title=".e., Mercury (element)">mercury and cyanide">Mercury_(element).html" ;"title=".e., Mercury (element)">mercury and cyanide">cyanide.html" ;"title="Mercury_(element).html" ;"title=".e., Mercury (element)">mercury and cyanide">Mercury_(element).html" ;"title=".e., Mercury (element)">mercury and cyanideentering the river system, causing a threat to the biodiversity of the area, and adversely impacting the health of the vulnerable people of these societies, including children The court referred to New Zealand’
Te Awa Tupua Act
and cited New Zealand’s recognition of the
Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...
’s legal personhood as precedent. Following that example, the court ordered the creation of a guardian body – the Commission of the Guardians of Atrato River, to represent the interests of the river, and manage the river’s resources in a sustainable way that is consistent with the river’s legal personhood status. Initially, the commission would include government representatives and one community representative. However, civil society rejected the idea of just one community and instead made a request for fourteen council members to serve on the council. The request was approved, and the council was formed in May 2018.


References

{{Authority control Environmental personhood Protected areas of Colombia Rivers of Colombia