Colombia: Colombia Environment Profile 2011

The Colombian constitution that came into force in 1991 established a legal framework for environmental policies, and the 1993 ratification of Article 99 set up an institutional framework. The institutions originating from this legislation included the Ministry of Environment (from 2003 onwards called Ministry of the Environment, Housing, and Regional Development) and the National Environmental System (SINA). The SINA was fiercely criticized in 2008; an evaluation of the last 15 years by experts from the National Environmental Forum found long-term system problems, including institutional weakness. A World Bank report highlights the high density of ecosystems in the country, but also the costs of environmental destruction. Ongoing colonization and economic exploitation are responsible for this situation, as are coca cultivation and aerial spraying with herbicides in environmentally sensitive regions, which has destroyed part of the original rain forest. The quality of water supply and sanitation is also relatively poor.

Air pollution in Bogotá is among Latin America’s worst, after Mexico City and Santiago de Chile, with irrespirable dust a particular problem. Aside from the destruction caused by economic factors and the violent conflict, global climate change is producing less humidity and more heat. As a result, traditionally humid regions such as the Chocó province suffer. Disaster alerts were called in 27 out of the 32 provinces in 2008. During the Uribe government, there were several forest fires, some related to climate change and others caused by arsonists. There have also been accidents attributable to firms profiting from lax environmental legislation. In August 2008, 96 barrels of cyanide from the mining industry and herbicides were dropped into the Magdalena River, for example.

Even though Colombia is a biodiversity hotspot and has a widespread system of national parks, in practice officials pay little more than lip service to environmentally compatible growth, with little effect on actual economic policy. Environmental protection criteria generally take a back seat to economic growth concerns. The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Infrastructure have been merged, an act that emphasizes the government’s focus. On the other hand, there are many civil society organizations working on environmental issues.

The nature reserve system (the National Administrative Unit for the Management of Natural Areas, UAESPNN) has been criticized in recent years. The way protection is conceived in Colombia sometimes makes it difficult to take people’s specific interests into account. In order to protect the environment and to avoid the perceived danger of communal property, legislation appropriates areas of conservation as state property, limiting or prohibiting the use and management by other parties. This makes collaboration between park managers and local communities very difficult. UAESPNN has recognized that part of the problem of managing natural parks has been the preconception that conservation is only possible without habitation by people. In Colombia, 42 conservation areas are inhabited, and in 16 of them, extensive processes of colonization are underway. Only five areas have no human occupation. The Uribe government has not been able to develop policies that consider environmental and human interests as an interdependent system. The violent conflict hinders the efficiency and the expansion of the environmental sector on the one hand, but on the other, it protects rain forest regions by making them dangerous to visit or develop.

Despite these issues, national and local governments, societal initiatives and politicians have initiated some environmental projects, often isolated but nevertheless laudable. Examples include water body restoration and traffic reduction measures.