Protecting Colombia's Biodiversity
Give To Colombia believes that all sectors of society have the responsibility to respect Colombia's precious resources. For this reason we are committed to raising awareness about the sustainable and responsible use of our environment. We work to make this subject a priority in development projects by considering important issues like conservancy, sustainable resource management, environmental education, and sustainable development.
Contamination and illegal mining represent an imminent threat to Colombia's environment, thus creating risks not only to endangered species and forests but to also to humans. Additionally, Colombia has one of the most contaminated regions (Northeast of Antioquia) in the world due to illegal mining that uses mercury to extract gold. Mercury contaminates water, which contaminates fish, animals, and causes health problems like kidney damage, respiratory problems, and loss of memory, among others. To make matters worse, as a consequence of the La Niña Phenomenon, since 2010 Colombia has been struck by torrential rains that have led to severe flooding, landslides, and damages that mainly affect the most vulnerable populations.
Sources: Ministry of Environment, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), System of Information of Biodiversity in Colombia (SIB), System of Environmental Information in Colombia (SIAC), National Parks, Colombia Humanitaria, Revista Semana, IDEAM (Colombian Weather Institute).