Uneven geographies of climate change mitigation: labour, territorial defence, and the blue economy in Colombian Caribbean mangroves

Mangroves are socio-ecological systems increasingly central to international carbon sink-based mitigation agendas through initiatives such as REDD+ and blue carbon. Critical scholarship has examined the political economy, governance, and social impacts of carbon initiatives, yet the role of labour in shaping mitigation geographies remains underexplored. Drawing on interviews, document analysis, and observation in Cispatá Bay, a major blue carbon project in the Colombian Caribbean, I examine how historically situated labour practices and collective forms of social organization shape the uneven geographies of climate change mitigation. I show that carbon sink-based mitigation projects are grounded in long-standing labour regimes ranging from mangrove harvesting and canal maintenance to ecosystem restoration, through which mangleros (mangrove workers) have historically structured relations between communities, landscapes, and environmental governance. I argue that labour constitutes the foundational basis of territorial defence in Cispatá, and therefore, carbon sink-based mitigation depends on this ongoing labour and cannot be sustained without it. This paper contributes to critical debates on climate mitigation, showing how mitigation geographies are co-produced through labour regimes, territorial defence, and uneven power relations.