Biocultural Rights and Biocultural Ethics

Valentina González-Morales is a Colombian environmental philosopher whose research focuses on biocultural ethics and the rights of nature, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of ecological and socio-environmental justice. In 2022, she earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the prestigious program in environmental philosophy, University of North Texas, USA, and later she joined the Department of Philosophy, Universidad de Cartagena, Colombia, where she is Assistant Professor.González-Morales’s academic work bridges philosophical traditions, drawing on both Western and Indigenous worldviews to propose situated, intercultural, and systemic frameworks for understanding human and other-than-human relationships. Her current work analyzes the case of the Atrato River in Colombia—recognized as a legal subject by the Constitutional Court through ruling T-622/16—through the lens of biocultural ethics, introducing the 3Hs (Habitats, Habits, and co-inhabitants) heuristic model to assess biocultural rights.In addition to her academic writing, she brings years of teaching experience at both the secondary and higher education levels, and remains committed to community-engaged scholarship, particularly in dialogue with Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities affected by environmental degradation and systemic violence.

• My journey toward biocultural rights and biocultural ethics.- My biocultural journey in Colombia.- Building inclusive biocultural frameworks for co-inhabitation.- The structure of the book.- The Case of the Atrato River, Colombia.- Location of the Chocó region in Colombia.- Inhabitants of the Chocó Region.- Water: Ontologies Complementing the Paradigm of H2o.- Latin American Ontologies, Epistemologies, and Ethics.- Emberá Dobidá Ontologies, Epistemologies, and Ethics.- Biocultural Rights and Other Legal Measures for the Conservation of Nature.- Origin of the Term Biocultural.- Precedents of Biocultural Rights.- Atrato River as Subject of Biocultural Rights: Legal Processes and Philosophical Implications.- Legal Framework for Attributing Rights to Nature.- Colombia Legal Processes.- International Legal Processes.- Assessing the Case of the Atrato River Through the 3hs Lenses of the Biocultural Ethics.- Biocultural Ethics and the 3Hs Framework.- Habitat.- Conclusion.