Environmental issues in Colombia

[3] The Tropical Andes, Choco, and the Caribbean are considered biodiversity hotspots which puts these areas at high risk of concentration of colonizing activities.

Issues include deforestation, soil erosion, illicit drug crops grown in national natural reserves by mafias (not peasants), pollution on major bodies of water by corporations (backed up by unregulated / unsupervised policies and by the corruption of local and federal authorities) among others.

There is soil and water quality damage from contamination by the use of chemicals in the coca-refining process, spillage of crude oil into the local rivers as a result of guerrilla sabotage of pipelines, overuse of pesticides, and air pollution (especially in Bogotá) from vehicle emissions.

[5] Deforestation results mainly from logging for timber, small-scale agricultural ranching, mining, development of energy resources such as hydro-electricity, infrastructure, cocaine production, and farming.

This has a profound ecological impact in that Colombia is extremely rich in biodiversity, with 10% of the world's species, making it the second most biologically diverse country on Earth.

[3] The Amazonia possess a low populated area with small scale agriculture (including illegal crops), and cattle ranching.

[3] Study results suggest deforestation in the Amazonia often takes place in unoccupied rural territory where an influx of “colonist population move freely and colonization hotspots using the river” are created.

[3] Majority of the Orinoco is composed by grasslands and pastures areas with small-scale agriculture, forest with extensive river networks and a small population.

[3][7] Deforestation is highly affected by both legal and illegal cropping, and by mining that negative impacts mountain forest at higher lands of the basin.

[3] In Colombia, cattle grazing productivity is the highest in this region, this practice plus its use of slash and burn activities influence deforestation.

[3] The Andes is of particular interest because of its known importance as a biodiversity hot spot, as a provider of water to a grand human population, and its vulnerability to climate change and deforestation.

The absence of government protection from armed conflict in San Lucas has facilitated the cultivation of coca crops and deforestation, which has resulted in local biodiversity loss.

[12] The black market of animal trafficking is considered the second biggest threat to biodiversity in Colombia and the third most lucrative illegal enterprise.

[6][7][13] Colombia has a seventy-year history of animal smuggling, in some cases impoverished families from the country side amplify their income by selling mafia groups lizards, monkey, and parrots.

[6] Frequently, sloths die in large numbers in accidents related to the destruction of natural forests that go underreported by the media and lack attention from wildlife agencies and police.

[6] The Colombian Ministry does not recognize the three-sloth species as being in threat of extinction mainly because there is no long-term study that represents the estimate of the total sloth population to demonstrate cause of concern.

Some of the sectors that have been recognized with the highest levels of pollution within the metropolitan area are: Itagüí-Ditaires, Politécnico Jaime Isaza-Cadavid, and Downtown Medellín (particularly the Miguel de Aguinaga building and San Antonio Park).

[18] Cali is the capital of Valle del Cauca municipality, and one of the city's of greatest concern in terms of air pollution in Colombia together with Bogotá and Medellin.

[22] Crude oil spills due to the acts of sabotage by leftist guerrilla squads, have become another cause of water pollution in the country.

Mercury vapors in the air around amalgam burning sites can be alarmingly high and almost always exceed the WHO limit for public exposure of 1,000 nanogram/cubic meter.

[23] Studies conducted in the Department of Cordoba showed that mercury levels in fish species in the basin of San Jorge river exceed the specified threshold (200 ng/g) for populations at risk established by World Health Organization.

[34] Sources suggest that all the metal contaminations can be attributed to the mining activities on the main gold zone of Colombia and San Jorge River basin.

[27] Children born to mothers who consumed mercury-contaminated fish suffered devastating birth defects, particularly those affecting the nervous system.

[27] According to Sam Spiegel, a lecturer in international development at the University of Edinburgh, “efforts to lower mercury emissions should aim to support miners and their livelihoods by supplying access to better technology’’.

Currently, the Government of Antioquia, Corantioquia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia and BioRedd are developing programs to help informal miners to improve their mining circuit and are introducing technologies that avoid mercury use in their process.

[23] They presented a proposed plant design that eliminates the use of mercury by replacing gravity concentration processes taking advantage of the characteristics of the treated material.

[27] Recently, many companies have started re-evaluating gravity systems as they are relatively simple and that they produce little environmental pollution and also due to the increased costs of flotation reagents.

The court ordered the local and national government, the environment and agriculture ministries and environmental authorities to come up with action plans within four months to combat deforestation in the Amazon.

This was one of the conclusions of a 333-page report, "Estado de los recursos naturales y del ambiente," released by the government's Contraloría General in 2020.

The Project, with the financial backing of Norway, Germany, and the United Kingdom, aims to completely eradicate deforestation of Colombia's Amazon by 2020.