The Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) in the first half of 2022, audited 28 entities in the environment sector and detected 16 tax findings for $9,215 million.
In this regard, it determined that today about 85% of the gold that Colombia is exporting is the product of that activity.
(Colombia presented four gold prospects in Canada).
“Compared to the illicit cocaine business, where a kilo of coca can be in the Colombian market for around $5 million, a kilo of illegal gold is around $250 million pesos, which has made this business has skyrocketed and today it is critically polluting not only the Atrato River in Chocó but also many other rivers, which benefits only 4 to 5 large criminal organizations,” assured the Comptroller Delegate for the Environment, Gabriel Adolfo Jurado.
In addition, the CGR warned that 66% of illegal mining in Colombia is done in reserve areas, that is, in spaces such as Natural Parks and Forest Reserves.
For Jurado, Colombia is in the presence of an environmental massacre, given the growing phenomenon of deforestation. In 1990, Colombia had about 65 million hectares of forest and today, 32 years later, it is reaching 59 million hectares.
In other words, more than 6 million hectares have been lost.
“Colombia loses 500 hectares of forest every day, which to measure it are about 1000 stadiums as large as El Campín in Bogotá”accurate.
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