Contested mangroves: land struggles and the gendered and racialized geographies of climate change

Climate change manifests historically and spatially in uneven geographies of responsibility, vulnerability and adaptation. Urban and tourism expansion on the city’s margins in Cartagena, Colombia, has led to the criminalization and dispossession of land, water, and mangroves in Black communities who resist racism, ecological degradation, and climate vulnerability. We analyse how Black women in marginalized communities adapt, integrate, and reshape climate change actions within a history of territorial defence and gendered and racialized dispossession. The case study of Black women mangrove-planters demonstrates how disputes over mangrove reveal intricate connections between land struggles and climate justice. Our findings also point to how the current adaptation regime depends upon the gendered and racialized labour of local communities, while furthering their marginalization.