Hours after a group of peasant families, dedicated to mining and agriculture, marched against decree 044, with which this week the Ministry of the Environment was granted powers to declare and delimit temporary natural resource reserve areas. , the Colombian Mining Association (ACM) also expressed its concerns and objections about this measure that would affect the development of mining activity in the country, with strong economic impacts.
(You may be interested in: Temporary nature reserves: details of the draft decree are given).
According to Juan Carlos Nariño, president of the association, This decree establishes broad powers for the Ministry of the Environment to reserve areas excluded from mining throughout the national territory, without rigorous technical, social, or environmental studies..
“This leaves the mining sector in high uncertainty and subject to paralysis for 5, 10, 20 or even many more years,” the union leader explained this Thursday.
(Also: Peasants and miners protest against decree creating temporary reserve zones).
He adds that with this rule, no mining project will be able to receive permits to develop activities in the temporary reserve areas that are defined, a situation that affects new projects and even those that are under execution.
Juan Camilo Nariño, president of the Colombian Mining Association
Milton Díaz / Portfolio
For the ACM, this decree also “it violates environmental participation by declaring temporary reserves without citizen participation and without the studies and cartography ordered by the Mining Code and the Council of State and ignores the autonomy of the Regional Autonomous Corporations – CARs because it leaves them out of the decision-making process.” decisions on this matter”.
(Besides: Decree that allows the creation of temporary natural reserves in mining areas is saved).
According to Juan Carlos Nariño, The temporary reserve zone that the Ministry of the Environment intends to impose in Santander will affect 78,000 hectares, this is twice the urban area of Bogotá.
For the union leader, “The issue is so critical that it stopped being an issue for mining companies, to become an issue of concern in the territory, regardless of the size of the activity, since it affects a large number of people in 6 departments”.
One of the mining departments that would be affected by this decree is Antioquia, which currently produces 70% of the gold extracted in the country.
According to the ACM accounts, in coal, the participation of this department in production is 0.3% of the national total, which will generate pressure on demand.
Economic impact
According to Nariño, the decision adopted by the Government “fuels the state of uncertainty in the industry”which so far this year shows worrying figures.
He explained that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in oil and mining falls 28% this year.
Furthermore, the mining sector is also the segment with the least investment, a phenomenon that affects mining production in Colombia.
Added to this dark panorama is that exports are declining, mainly affected by the reduction in the price of some ‘commodities’.
Lose ground
For Juan Carlos Nariño, this discourages production in Colombia, while other countries such as China and South Korea gain space in the mineral trade.
Finally, the union leader presented a balance of Colombian mining exports, highlighting that the United States is the main buyer of Colombian gold and emeralds.
(Here: Peasants and miners protest against decree creating temporary reserve zones).
For its part, China is the main buyer of nickel, the only buyer of copper and the second buyer of thermal and metallurgical coal, while Brazil is the main buyer of coal
metallurgical and coke.
Finally, South Korea is today the main buyer of thermal coal.
Protest of miners and farmers
Courtesy
More protests
Just like the mining companies, farmers from different parts of the country also joined together to protest in rejection of decree 044 of 2024.
Said regulations establish the criteria with which the so-called Temporary Reserve Areas would be declared and delimited. which are oriented towards the protection and development of natural resources within the framework of environmental mining planning..
Among the aspects defined to identify these areas, it must be taken into account that the place has the presence of ecosystems of environmental importance, strategic areas for the conservation of water resources that supply water to aqueducts or that support availability to guarantee food security, and/or places that require restoration actions to promote and maintain their ecological integrity.
The protests are based on the fact that not only would the establishment of these temporary areas be established without consultation with the communities and without technical studies, but also that the measure would put at risk the work of thousands of traditional and ancestral miners, farmers and people dedicated to mining. agro.
The protests are based not only on the fact that the establishment of these temporary areas would be carried out without consultation with the communities and without technical studies, but also that the measure would put at risk the work of thousands of traditional and ancestral miners, farmers and people dedicated to agriculture.
In total, more than a thousand representatives of the mining and peasant communities of Santander, Antioquia, Boyacá, Caldas, Cundinamarca, Risaralda and Chocó, participated in the mobilization to demand that the Council of State issue precautionary measures regarding this regulation and thus protect their rights to work and participation.
PORTFOLIO
