Main environmental problems in Colombia

During the past year 2018, 70% of the deforestation that the territory of Colombia suffered was specifically in the Amazon rainforest . The lungs of the planet have been seriously affected within the Colombian territory, where thousands of hectares of tropical forests are deforested in order to establish new monoculture areas and meadows to feed cattle. Here you can see more about the Deforestation of the Amazon jungle .

Deforestation processes follow non-productive models, where infrastructure projects are also applied without an environmental license. On the other hand, the numerous fires in the northern Amazon of Colombia occur as a strategy to expand the country’s agricultural borders and continue with illegal deforestation.

In these other AgroCorrn articles we tell you what forest fires are and how they occur and the consequences of a forest fire .

Another of the main environmental problems in Colombia is that numerous anthropic activities (carried out by humans) are responsible for the improper management of renewable and non-renewable resources, both in urban centers and in rural areas.

Said anthropic contamination is reflected in the environmental problems that the bad treatment of domestic wastewater entails (hydric contamination), the catastrophic vehicular and acoustic contamination in the cities; as well as the improper handling of solid waste and its use, and the salinization of soils (soil contamination).

Various National Natural Parks of Colombia denounce, year after year, the numerous activities of poaching and / or sports, as well as the illegal trafficking of flora and fauna that takes place within protected areas.

Specifically, they denounce that almost 50% of the wood that Colombia trades with other countries is illegal, with selective logging being one of the main dangers suffered by the Colombian Amazon rainforest.

Regarding fauna, animals of all groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish) are killed or traded illegally, a violent and unnecessary practice that does not try to control the population of animal communities, but simply to satisfy the cruelty of some human beings. In addition, this especially affects the species of animals in danger of extinction in Colombia .

The National Government of Colombia has the last word on the mining activities that take place in the soil and subsoil of the country. Day after day, numerous towns and different Colombian regions fight to prevent the illegal practices of extractive industries dedicated to mining .

Mainly, open pit mining is responsible for the extraction of metals and precious stones of small, medina and large scale. These mining activities constantly put at risk the ecological and cultural heritage of the territories in which the mines are built.

In Colombia, during the last 25 years, at least 11 park rangers have been violently assassinated while working caring for natural and protected areas of the country. These murders occurred as a consequence of the interests of illegal businesses that move enormous amounts of money within Colombian territory, such as drug trafficking, illegal mining, and clashes between the military, guerrillas, and other criminal groups.

Apart from being a serious social and economic problem, this is also one of the problems suffered by the Colombian environment. It is common to find areas of forests destroyed and really hit by violence and that especially affect the environment of Colombia, and the world, because they are areas that serve as biodiversity corridors (connecting species that are found in different habitats).

The environmental consequences of the exploitation of natural resources to obtain fuels are truly invasive and devastating.

In Colombia, the practice of fracking (hydraulic fracturing to extract gas and oil from the subsoil) and the exploitation of oil palm ( Elaeis genus ) are the main activities used to obtain and generate biofuels. Both are to blame for the depletion of the wealth of natural resources that we can find in the soils and subsoils of Colombian territory.

Both mountain areas, such as those dominated by mangroves, jungles and oceanic coasts are victims of industrial activities (legal and illegal) that are launched year after year in Colombia.

In order to ensure better infrastructure or a more prosperous industrial activity and economy, bridges, ports and roads are built in the name of progress. A progress that endangers virgin ecosystems rich in animal and plant species (many of them still unknown to science). Find out more about the Ecosystems of Colombia in this other article.

The management of waste and garbage generated by the thousands of Colombian inhabitants is an environmental problem that has worried the country for years, especially in urban centers, where they estimate that by 2030 there will not be enough space to store 80% of the generated garbage.

Numerous measures focused on the use of waste as well as its optimal management have appeared in Colombia as strategies for caring for the planet.

If you want to read more articles similar to Main environmental problems in Colombia , we recommend that you enter our Pollution category .