Páramos - water source
Conflicts of interest: between greed and life
Risks of open pit mining
Destruction of native environments, landscapes and affectation of flora and fauna
Alteration of surface and underground water basins
Capture of surface water sources for mine consumption
Generation of deposits and mining wastes with risk of spills
Loss of water sources for all forms of life, the local and metropolitan population
Risks of underground mining
Total or partial destruction of aquifers
Alteration of the direction of the natural flow of underground water due to the tunnels
Acidic waters (with a pH less than 4)
Acid mine drainage
Slippage of tailings affecting entire river basins
Loss of water sources for the local and metropolitan population
In addition to losing their water sources, citizens risk taking on the costs of remedying the environmental impacts whose manifestation may take years, that is, when the mining company has already left. It is a panorama where the benefits, product of greed, are for the few and the risks and very probable damages for the many. This is also known by mining companies, hence some are dedicated to buying awareness and pay for campaigns that favor mega-mining.
Route of events
In 2009, Greystar Resources, a Canadian mining company, requests an environmental license for its mining megaproject “Angostura”, to exploit gold in an open pit mine in the middle of the tropical moorland. Faced with this imminent threat of water and the tropical moorland, a civic movement of protest and defense was born in Bucaramanga; in October 2010, 5000 people participated in a march to defend water and the Páramo de Santurbán. The committee originally formed by unions, environmentalists and NGOs grows with the addition of the Trade Unions of Bucaramanga, the Society of Engineers of Santander and others. Informative hearings, demanded by law, evidence a known secret: the State and its institutions leave the field open to mining companies. At the same time strategies of threats and slander by some media outlets towards the Committee in defense of water and the Páramo of Santurbán began, labeling its members as enemies of development and false apostles of environmentalism. The answer does not take long: in the third protest march, summoned by the committee, 8,000 people joined. The Regional Autonomous Corporation for the Defense of the Bucaramanga Plateau (CDMB), a public environmental entity, presses the Committee in defense of water and the Santurbán páramo in early 2011 to withdraw from the environmental hearing; the response in February of the same year is overwhelming: a protest march with more than 40,000 people in Bucaramanga, sit-ins before the Ministry of the Environment in Bogota and protest actions in Norte de Santander. In March 2011, the State denied the environmental license to Greystar. The company abandons its project to exploit open-pit gold, changes its name alluding to Eco-Oro (Eco-Gold).
Law 1382 of 2010 declares the Colombian tropical moorlands as excluded areas of mining without specifying the delimitation of these ecosystems. The areas of high Andean forest from 2,500 meters above sea level belong, according to bio geographical criteria, to this moorland ecosystem. But for political reasons, the Ministry of Mines achieves that the CDMB, without any serious support, raise the altitude level of the Páramo de Santurbán to 3,400 meters above sea level. In January 2013 the Regional Natural Park of Santurbán was created with 11,700 ha. This measure exposes, to the avarice of mega-mining, the aquifers, water recharge, sub-páramo, high Andean forest, peat bogs and the lagoon system of the páramo, all indispensable for the water cycle; old mining titles, now located in the park are validated. Due to the protests of the citizenship, demanding the protection of the páramos in front of the mining intervention on a large scale, the State through its different institutional entities begins with a delimitation of the páramos. This procedure leads, in the case of Páramo de Santurbán, to a territorial fragmentation of the ecosystem since the area of the Andean high forest is left outside this delimitation. The Alexander von Humboldt Institute, reference entity for the territorial delimitation of ecosystems in Colombia delimits the Páramo de Santurbán, based on bio geographical criteria in an additional 30,000 hectares more than the government. Precisely these 30,000 hectares not delimited coincide with areas that have mining titles in the hands of transnational mining companies.
For the National Mining Agency, this “Soto Norte” project is a project of national interest and deserves all support; since 2014 Colombia opened the way for express environmental licenses. Since 2017, seven municipal consultations opted for water and said no to mining. Not so much ago the Constitutional Court made it impossible for municipalities to hold citizen consultations to make decisions on the subsoil; with this ruling, the territorial entities can only express an opinion about the implications of projects if there are environmental impact studies that many municipalities cannot afford. The commitment of the state to the mining locomotive is felt.
Provocated resistance
The fight is for water not against mining
Wednesdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. the most permanent nucleus of the Committee for the Defense of Water and the Páramo de Santurbán meets at the headquarters of the Workers’ Union of the Metropolitan Aqueduct of Bucaramanga to program its activities. Trade unionists, environmentalists, people from political parties, NGOs, academics participate, in sum, people who are outraged. It is an open and plural space and has chosen not to have legal status to avoid structures of hierarchy: moderation is rotary, there is no fixed spokesperson and all decisions are taken from the consensus and after debating. The range of actions is quite complete: ties of alliance with the media, with politicians and parties, unions, and other organizations, as well as lobbying with congress members; it also coordinates with international partners such as Mining Watch of Canada; Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) of the United States, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) of the Netherlands and The Inter-American Association for the Defense of the Environment- AIDA.
The members of the Committee for the Defense of Water and the Páramo de Santurbán are constantly expanding their expertise around the legal-political, ecological and argumentation context around public policies. Informative work is done in the neighborhoods, breakfasts with community leaders and actions in public places; in addition, a survey of citizens’ imaginaries around water and the Páramo de Santurbán is planned. Legal actions to demand the execution of technical inspection visits, public hearings in Congress with parliamentarians on mega-mining and Fracking seek the adhesion of more parliamentarians to the issue. Mayerly López participates in this civic platform since she was a student at the public university. “We take care of the social prestige that we have achieved as a civic platform”, explains the activist. “This cause belongs to everyone. The struggle of the committee has become a way of life.” For Mario Flórez, remembering the nine years of struggle, there is no doubt: “The Committee for the Defense of Water and the Páramo de Santurbán is still alive thanks to the victories achieved”.
Victories in favor of water and life
Impairment of Greystar’s environmental license to operate open-pit
The World Bank, initially involved with capital in Greystar, was observed (by the ombudsman CAO) and had to withdraw from the project
Constitutional Court by ruling 0-35 of 2016 prohibits mining in the páramos.
Delay in the Minesa environmental license process
The public agenda incorporates the theme of water and páramo
Constitutional Court forces to redo the delimitation recognizing the population of the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga as directly affected
Request to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to update / reveal information on the new delimitation process
Impediment mining megaprojects in the páramo
In the face of social pressure, regional authorities are inclined to reject projects
The population associates water and life with the páramos and incorporated it into their narrative
Defense of the Páramo de Santurbán is an emblematic event for the country
Civil society realizes that mega-mining is not the panacea
Not accepting the debate about the relevance of mining, but working to affect the economy due to contaminated water
The slogan of the struggle and resistance does not defend interests but rights: defense of water and life; the fight is for water, not against mining; In addition, there are different scenarios when talking about artisanal mining or mega-mining. It is a constant that is worked with positive messages such as water / life defense or water yes fracking no. The civic platform practices plurality, there is a confluence of sectors and meetings of different lectures. What unites the group despite its heterogeneity is volunteering and civic commitment. The committee has overcome class thinking around allies. “We are not the civil society of Bucaramanga but a small part and we need allies, they are important”, explains Mario Flórez. The only condition to participate is to fight authentically in favor of water. It is possible to summon political parties and business, trade unions and merchants, academics and environmentalists. The committee has gone through ups and downs and attempts to be instrumentalized. The committee is not governed by written rules but by the principles of its members. There is a constant relay in the functions of the committee, giving space to others, there is an exercise of social control from the collective. The financial shortage of the committee is chronic; but this, according to Alix Mancilla, another member of the committee “does not weaken but increases creativity”. Even anonymous supports enter the committee basket. Organizing marches of more than one hundred thousand participants with less than 20 million pesos (approximately 6 to 7 thousand dollars) is of the size of the committee.
Territory, we are all
“What happens in Santurbán will happen in the other tropical moorlands of Colombia”. Mario Flórez indicates that by 2019 a national meeting of defenders of páramos is being organized; there is a growing trend of the defense of the páramos. 22 of the approximately 37 páramos are threatened by mining. With the support of the lawyer collective Luis Carlos Pérez, as members of the Committee for the Defense of Water and the Páramo de Santurbán, the approach of law is worked through tutelage, petitions and demands. The Constitutional Court, reviewing the tutelage regarding the right to water, decent life, information, participation and healthy environment, in total 7 rights, declared vicious the process of delimitation of the Páramo de Santurbán. In the court´s legal support, the metropolitan population is recognized as directly affected by the threats of water and the páramo. With this there is a legal recognition that the territory belongs, in addition to the local population, the regional and metropolitan civil society.
Messages to the Future
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National Government and environmental authorities have generated and modified norms to give a vision of legitimacy to the extractivist and short-term measures that they adopt. In the case of Santurbán, it is the metropolitan population that feels part of the territory leading the resistance from positive messages and in favor of water as a source of life.
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Resistance can become an alternative when there is understanding and recognition that the territory belongs to all, local inhabitants and the metropolitan area. The resistance is magnified when with communication strategies and clear messages it is possible to inform and convince the civil society to defend the páramos as the heritage of all.
The text was prepared, based on on-site conversations by Jorge Krekeler, facilitator commissioned by the AGEH and Misereor and agreed with the people visited. We thank Mario Flórez, Alix Mancilla, Erwing Rodríguez, Jesús Gamboa, Mayerly López, Carlos Morales, Elizabeth Martínez and Nelly Sofía Ardila of the Committee for the Defense of Water and the Páramo de Santurbán, and particularly the Corporación Compromiso for having generated the link.
Authors:
- Jorge Krekeler / jorge.krekeler@posteo.de
Design:
Diana Patricia Montealegre
Photos:
Diferentes fuentes
Contact information regarding the documented experience:
Correo electrónico: comiteparamosanturban@gmail.com
Facebook: Comité Santurbán Twitter: @comitesanturban
Edition:
December 2018
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