The first leftist government that Colombia has had, begins its last year on August 7. President Gustavo Petro Urrego will meet – this 2025 – three years as the president of the Colombians, in an administration that, Just as he has generated joys in some sectors, he has left several worriesboth in the citizens who supported him, as disagreements in the opposition, clearly.
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In the National Development Plan (PND) drawn by the Head of State and Vice President France Márquez, three constituent elements were proposed that included the Territorial planning around water; as well as the transformation of productive structures, so that clean and biodiverse economies that replace intensive production in carbon use; In addition, the document indicated that sustainability must be accompanied by equity and inclusion.
For the Petro government, these pillars are intimately linked, one is not understood without the other. “The biodiverse economy is impossible without an ordering of the territory, without the preservation of nature and its ecosystem functions, and without greater inclusion“
Minambiente management figures
So far, advances in specific items have been evaluated, where the management of that portfolio in the first three years of government stands out. So things, The official figures of the Ministry of Environment, go as follows.
The goal of the national government in terms of areas under pay schemes for environmental services (PSA) and Conservation incentives was to reach 743,828with a cut at December 31, 2024, the registered progress was 75.38%.
In the case of areas in the process of Restoration, recovery and rehabilitation of ecosystems degradedthe goal for the end of the administration was 1,700,000 hectares, starting from the base of 946,217 hectares since 2022; Thus, they reported an advance of 9.39% with a cut to June 30, 2024.
As for the territorial agreements for the ordering around the water, the goal was to reach 13; The advance is 69.23%, with a cut to June 30, 2025. Regarding the goal of setting 20 territorial projects to improve urban environmental management in municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, the progress was 70% with a cut to the first half of this year.
Applied research projects in bioeconomy for productive transformation drawn a goal of 14 (starting from the base of 8 already carried out); They had a 50% advancewith a cut as of December 31, 2024.
In environmental matters, it is worth saying that, as part of its initial ministerial cabinet, there was Minister María Susana Muhamad González, in the Environment and Sustainable Development portfolio, who would be replaced – in March 2025 – as head of that portfolio in March 2025 by Lena Estrada Yearkazi.
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Water savings
The achievements achieved
According to ministry figures, Between 2022 and 2024 Colombia managed to reduce deforestation by 40%, overcoming the goal established in the National Development Plan. In this period it reached the two lowest deforestation figures in the country’s history. The implementation of the deforestation containment plan, based on agreements with local communities and inter -institutional actions.
During the administration of Minister Muhamad 28 forest development and biodiversity cores were consolidated In different regions, whose strategic approach was the Amazon, which allowed a transition from economies dependent on deforestation towards models of sustainable forest exploitation.
Likewise, the conserve program paid tripled the economic incentive for families that decided to say no to deforestation. With cut to March 2025, 11,838 households linked to the project were reportedwhich had an investment of 150,000 million pesos projected until 2026.
Through the Fund for Life and Biodiversity, the Minambiente designed a new financial model for the environment, where programs can be financed more than a year and in an effective way that guarantees results. In the background Environmental programs and projects have been structured by the hand of communities and social actors in territory. This fund, which was serving a year of operation in March of this 2025, has helped structure and viable 1.3 billion pesos in projects, of which all the phases added together already reach 3 billion pesos.
With a cut to the first quarter of this year, indicates the mining, 292,830 hectares were restored in strategic ecosystems such as the Amazon, La Mojana, Los Páramos and the Bajo Cauca, to mention some. This initiative, carried out in collaboration with the communities in the territories and the environmental authorities, territorial entities, companies, research institutes of the National Environmental System, National Parks and International Cooperators, It represents a 38% advance against the restoration goal of 753,000 hectares by 2026.
In addition to this, it is noteworthy that Colombia host the Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity (COP16) in Cali, Valle del Cauca, from October 21 to November 2, 2024, where the creation of the Fund of Cali was achieved, which consists of a world mechanism to distribute equitably economic resources to the states for the use of their genetic information, historical agreement in favor of the biodiverse countries.
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Deforestation
Expert analysis
In this regard, Iván Vargas Chaves, professor of the Master in Environmental Law and Sustainability and the Specialization in the Law of the Environment of the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, told Portfolio that the Petro government has been effective and rapid to fulfill its most drastic promises, ““Those focused on prohibition. As promised, fracking pilot projects were arrested, no new licenses for hydrocarbons exploration were granted, open sky mining was prohibited and the construction of new reservoir hydroelectric plants was stopped. In addition, in an effort to decarbonize transport, a resolution from the Ministry of Mines and Energy forced gas stations to install recharge points for electric vehicles”
In the case of the energy transition, The expert highlighted the impulse to wind and solar energies. Although La Guajira was designated as the ‘epicenter’ of this transition, “With mixed property promises with Wayúu communities, reality has been a path of obstacles. About half of the planned projects at the national level suffer delays due to normative barriers and, crucially, for social conflicts with local communities. Although an agreement was reached to improve prior consultation processes, the expansion of unconventional renewables does not advance to the expected rhythm“
And secondly, “The promise to gradually reduce the extractivist model. This is the heart of presidential discourse. However, moving from the economic dependence of oil and coal to a model of reindustrialization and local economies is a monumental task. The analysis indicates that this new path ‘is barely being designed,’ demonstrating that dismantling an economic model is much slower than prohibiting its future expansions”the U. Tadeo expert added.
For his part, Juan Camilo Cárdenas, economist, professor at the University of the Andes and director of the Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Latin America and the Caribbean (CODS), told Portafolio that it is remarkable to have put on the table in the national discussion, the “global responsibility that we must have as a country against climate change and the imminent need for decarbonization the economies of the world. This is not an easy discussion for a country with so many social needs and so much dependence on the income of hydrocarbons, but we have to give it discussion“
In turn, Carolina Espitia Gómez, director of Environmental Engineering Program of the Central University, told Portafolio that since its role in the Academy, “I positively value certain advances from the Ministry of Environment during the government of President Gustavo Petro, especially in relation to the positioning of climate change as a transverse axis of the country’s environmental policy. Initiatives have been promoted that recognize the importance of environmental justice, territorial knowledge and differential approaches, which is consistent with a more comprehensive vision of sustainability“
In addition, he stressed that the PND at 2026 incorporates a transition to decarbonized economies, strengthening water management as a common good, and “Implementation of the program that promotes the ordering around water and the conservation of strategic ecosystems. And spaces for dialogue with ethnic communities and social organizations have been strengthened, advancing in the recognition of their environmental rights”
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Sustainability
Challenges for the year left
Among the most important challenges for Colombia, the Uniandes expert said that, it is definitely “Frenting deforestation in the Amazon basin, and that must go through a political, economic and technological solution for this region of the country. A second challenge is to design a country strategy for climatic adaptation, especially for the vast majority of the urban population that will depend on this climatic vulnerability of environmental protection in the peripheral areas of the country, and especially in the Amazon and in Chocó Biogeographic”
“To resolve these challenges, the country has to face a great fiscal crisis that is coming and that will limit the budgetary possibilities to finance these environmental actions amid so many other social emergencies. An exit to this challenge is a tax reform that supports more strength in carbon tax and the consumption and production of goods and services that threaten our climate adaptation capacity“said economist Juan Camilo Cárdenas.
Meanwhile, the U. Central teacher was emphatic in that, from an academic and technical perspective, important challenges persist. “Budget execution and inter -institutional articulation have shown limitations in several territories, which affects the effective implementation of policies. It is also necessary to improve the mechanisms of monitoring, evaluation and citizen participation, as well as accelerating the formulation and implementation of key technical instruments, such as adaptation plans to climate change in the most vulnerable municipalities“
“From our environmental engineering program, we consider it essential that the Ministry continue to strengthen the technical and scientific basis of its decisions, and that it opens more spaces for articulation with the Academy, the training of professionals committed to sustainability, and collaborative work in the territories“He said.
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Valentina Delgadillo Abello
Portfolio journalist
