The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamadannounced this Wednesday at a press conference that would establish the first temporary nature reserve to stop the development of mining projects in strategic environmental areas.
The minister revealed that this will be established in the Santurbán moorin the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander, and would, in principle, be valid for two years. He also mentioned that the resolution that regulates It will be published for 20 calendar days starting this November 27 and will be open for comments.
(You can read: What is the process for Colombia to decide to request a visa from foreign citizens?).
The total area of this temporary reserve would be 75,357 hectares and will be located in the western part of the massif. Likewise, it would cover seven Santander municipalities: Matanza, Suratá, California, Vetas, Charta, Tona and the city of Bucaramanga.
“Today we are announcing that the draft resolution that defines the temporary reserve zone of Santurbán is published for consultation with the objective of protecting the critical basins that supply 1.3 million people in the 7 municipalities of the region and the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga“said the portfolio manager.
The Cunta lagoon, in the municipality of Vetas.
Under this order of ideas, given that this resolution comes into force, New mining licenses cannot be delivered and activities that do not comply with the exceptions duly established in these regulations cannot be carried out..
According to the head of the portfolio, this decision is based on the precautionary principle for the protection of the Alto Lebrija River (which flows through Girón, Bucaramanga, Lebrija, Sabana de Torres and Puerto Wilches) and Cáchira South.
(We recommend: Senate’s Sixth Committee approves the data bill in third debate).
The minister mentioned that they seek to protect both “biodiversity as well as the water regulation capacity that guarantees the ecological function and also the service of providing drinking water to the aqueducts, both municipal and Bucaramanga.“.
And he added: “It must be made clear that this measure has no effects on agriculture, livestock, infrastructure, or construction licenses that will continue to be issued in accordance with the land uses defined in the Planning Plans. territorial of the municipalities, but specifically affects the application for new titles or work plans for mining and environmental licenses for mining“.
The Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad.
Respect for what is already in force
The same way, Muhamad clarified that the resolution does recognize the mining tradition in the municipalities of California and Vetasso it does not negatively affect the formalization of artisanal miners in these populations nor does it do the same with activities that already have a mining title and a current environmental instrument.
“The resolution has technical support in information and studies carried out on the water cycle and the environmental importance of the area, both by the Regional Autonomous Corporation (CAR) of the Bucaramanga Plateau, the National Mining Agency (ACM), the National of Environmental Licenses (Anla), the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), the Ideam and the Humboldt Institute“, he clarified, also mentioning that it is not true that the creation of temporary reserves is done without technical evidence.
(Further: Radical left in Colombia reveals itself due to the arrival of Armando Benedetti to the Government).
The above suggests that None of the 11 polygons in small-scale mining formalization processes, which cover an area of 655 hectares, would be affected. However, there are currently 23,929 hectares where there are mining titles that are within the reserve area, but that do not meet the requirements to be excluded from the standard.
This means that 31.5% of the entire area of the temporary reserve overlaps with titles delivered, but that they do not fall into the exceptions mentioned in the resolution: “In the ideal world, there should be no mining in this area.“Muhamad acknowledged.
Although the Ministry of the Environment had already issued the Decree 044 for the regulation of the figure of temporary reserves in strategic environmental areas, in this particular case the reserve would have its legal basis in other regulatory frameworks, such as in the article 47 of Decree Law 2811 of 1974which regulates the reserves of renewable natural resources.
Added to this is that, for as long as the reserve area lasts, the technical studies and processes necessary to determine in which areas of the reserve mining can be carried out will be carried out.
PORTFOLIO
