The debate continues over mining in Santurban

Environmental activists are not satisfied with the government’s ruling on the paramo of Santurbán, which set aside almost 100,000 hectares as a protected ecosystem. Though the Colombian Ministry of the Environment argues that it “bullet-proofed” 76 percent of the paramo, which produces water for 2.5 million people in eastern Colombia, environmentalists insist that the ruling left important “holes” that allow for mining exploration in extremely sensitive parts of the high-altitude ecosystem.

Erwin Rodríguez-Salah, a cofounder of the Movement for a Conscious Citizenry, called the delimiting of the paramo “the largest deception in the environmental history of the country,” as the ruling allows for mining companies that have current mining titles to keep operating in the paramo. The activist questioned the need to consider mining companies’ interests and rights when adjusting the border of the paramo. He insisted that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ original Development Plan said that the borders of the paramos would be based on social, technical, and environmental studies. At no time did President Santos say that mining companies would be taken in account.

The Union of Miners in Santander criticized these opponents of large and small mining projects in the paramo, labeling the leaders of the campaigns against gold mining in Santander “persona non grata.” This battle between competing environmental and commercial interests, is playing out just as intensely in Colombia as it is in Peru.