Productive diversification, climate change and governance of the extractive sector: 75 proposals for a transition agenda in Colombia is the title of the publication of Foro Región Central and Foro Nacional por Colombia, which had the support of Brot für die Welt and Ford Foundation, which presents the result of more than ten years of systematic analysis on the behavior of mining and hydrocarbons in the country. The Agenda raises several important issues for the current debate on the construction of a fairer, more sustainable and equitable development model in Colombia, with the participation of the communities in the decisions that are made regarding the territory, the economy and the protection of the environment. .

The Agenda presents a diagnosis of the results of public policies promoted by recent governments that have favored the exploitation and export of minerals and hydrocarbons. In addition, it shows the inconvenience of the extractivist emphasis of our development model, since it has generated a reprimarization of the economy – that is, the economy has been based on activities of the primary or extractive sector – without generating the positive impact on formal employment that It is expected and has put the country in a very vulnerable situation in the face of fluctuations in the international prices of raw materials.

Likewise, it draws attention to the sector, since despite the impacts generated by large farms in the territories and their population – as well as in the ecosystems and the sustainability of fauna and flora, rivers and sources of water – A large part of the communities and local authorities are excluded from decisions about mining and hydrocarbons. This fact has become one of the main sources of social conflicts in Colombia and is related to the threats and deaths of social leaders who seek to defend their territory from extractive projects.

The Agenda points out a route to advance in the discussion of a development model less dependent on minerals and hydrocarbons. There are 75 proposals in terms of productive diversification, energy transition and governance. Each of them identifies the measures that the government can adopt, the institutional changes that are required, the fiscal resources that must be available, and the role of public, private, and social actors in this process.

In terms of productive diversification, the country must considerably reduce its high dependence on the income generated by the export of minerals and hydrocarbons, because most of the economic blocks have proposed measures to reduce the use of these fuels and if the country does not align to these measures and does not encourage the growth of other productive sectors, could experience a deep economic crisis in the medium term.

An issue of great relevance is the energy transition, on which Colombia must give a serious discussion to change its consumption matrix, including renewable energy sources and, in addition, with the duty to reduce its contribution to the international inventory of polluting emissions due to its export of oil and coal. This is in harmony with the climate change agenda that requires urgent measures from all states to stop an environmental catastrophe in the coming decades, the need to protect water sources and nature, and the importance of conserving the livelihoods of communities. .

Also, the Governance Agenda outlines measures to promote dialogue between the nation and the territories, to reach agreements on a fairer development model, and proposes strategies to include citizen participation in public policy decisions, with actions to guarantee transparent rules of the game for all stakeholders interested in contributing to the development of the country.

Finally, this Agenda proposes a transition approach with a time horizon of ten to fifteen years, understanding that it is not possible to change the extractivist economic approach overnight. Therefore, progressive measures must be included so that a negative impact is not generated on the income of the State and on the territories that depend on mining and hydrocarbons. Likewise, it makes a call to implement institutional, regulatory and policy changes that must be specified, carried out and guarantee their continuity.

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This document will be presented at an event called Just and Sustainable Post-Extractivist Transition in Colombia: Challenges and Proposals, which is organized by Foro Región Central, Foro Nacional por Colombia and the Faculty of Finance, Government and International Relations of the Externado de Colombia University.

The event will take place next Thursday, September 29 at the Externado de Colombia University: calle 12 # 1 – 17 Este from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. Registration is enabled at the following link: https://bit.ly/3U8LBlu (limited capacity).

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Bogotá, May 17, 2022

The importance of this agreement for Colombia lies in the considerable number of environmental conflicts and the difficult situation of environmental leaders, as it is the most risky country to assume this role in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its implementation can substantially improve access to environmental information and citizen participation in environmental decision-making, as well as access to justice in matters involving the use of natural resources.

From the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries we call on the Senators of the Republic to ratify the Escazú Agreement, in order to mitigate the socio-environmental problems that afflict much of the national territory and with a view to the 2030 Agenda and the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

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The meeting began with a presentation by Noel Murray (executive director of Directorio Legislativo) of the “Joining The Dots” project, which seeks to explore information on the assets of public officials; public contracting; and tenders in the extractive sector, in order to identify possible conflicts of interest, corruption or improper use of public office. Murray was accompanied by Mark Robinson, EITI executive director, and Francisco París, EITI director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

This presentation, in addition to the participation of the Mesa’s social organizations, included interventions by Claudia Báez, a journalist from Cuestión Pública, and the data expert organization Datasketch, who positively valued the effort of cross-checking data to find possible conflicts of interest of public officials in the extractive sector. A webcast of this presentation can be found on the Bureau’s Facebook page.

Subsequently, a panel was held on the progress of the Subnational EITI, in which the Technical Secretariat of EITI Colombia presented the current status of the implementation of the EITI standard in the prioritized territories: Boyacá, Casanare, Cesar and Santander. On the civil society side, ABC Colombia and the CSIR Cesar participated, commenting on the views from their territories on the processes being carried out in the formation of the local committees.

Francisco París, for his part, highlighted the role of civil society in the EITI standard validation process that Colombia will begin in the second half of the year. “You are going to be consulted, that’s part of the spirit of the standard. There will be many opportunities to hear your voice in the validation. And the best of luck for Colombia to do justice to your efforts,” he said.

Presentations were also made on the Anti-Corruption Legal Advice Center (ALAC) and the initiative on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection in the context of extractive sector operations, by the Transparency for Colombia corporation.

The meeting culminated with an intervention by the organizations representing civil society before the National Tripartite Committee, which, together with the government and the private sector, coordinates actions for the continuation of the work within the framework of the EITI initiative. These are Crudo Transparente, Fundación Atabaque and Transparencia por Colombia.

The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries emerged in 2013 and currently brings together more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions from different parts of the country. Its objective is to seek higher levels of transparency and access to public information in the Colombian extractive sector.

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Given the alarming situation of those who defend the environment in Colombia and the lack of guarantees in the protection of ecosystems, as well as the barriers that prevent effective citizen participation in environmental decision making, the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries
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requests the Congress of the Republic to ratify the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean(Escazú Agreement).), doing so will be an important and positive step towards ensuring the sustainable development of the country, based on respect for the planet or the Common House, with a focus on human rights, social justice and citizen participation, as well as guaranteeing the right to life of environmental leaders.

In this sense, and as organizations that seek transparency in extractive regions, we insist on the ratification of Escazú. This treaty is a vital tool for regulating environmental rights in three main aspects: Access to Information, Citizen Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. Not ratifying it would be a sign of a Congress that lacks will and prevents the country from complying with this commitment in the framework of compliance with the protection of human rights and respect for the lives of those who protect the environment.

Since 2019, within the framework of the Great National Conversation, the Colombian government signed the Agreement before the United Nations. In 2020 it was submitted with a message of urgency by President Iván Duque, and in 2021 it was again submitted to Congress due to pressure from social and environmental groups.

However, since its filing, the bill to ratify the regional treaty has made little progress in the current Congress; only two public hearings were held in 2021. Furthermore, despite its urgency message in 2020, it did not even make it to the first debate, even though it was on the agenda of the Second Committee.

In view of these delaying actions -which show the lack of commitment before the international community- and despite the fact that there are only a few weeks left in the last legislative period of the Government of Iván Duque, the Government’s opposition managed to set the agenda for the discussion of the Escazú Agreement in the Second Committee of the Senate for April 26, 2022.

We insist on the urgency of incorporating this treaty into our legislation, a tool that we hope will allow us to work towards ceasing to be the most dangerous country in the world for environmental leaders and thereby reduce the extreme vulnerability of ecologists, indigenous peoples and environmental defenders in Colombia. As indicated by the international report of Global Witness, by 2020, 65 murders of environmental defenders were recorded and in 2021, 56 homicides have already been counted, placing us for the second consecutive year as the most dangerous country in the world for environmental leaders.

It is worth mentioning that in January 2022 the first murder of an environmental defender was a minor; a member of the indigenous reservation Las Delicias (Cauca), whose voice was extinguished. Likewise, the Investigation and Indictment Unit of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace – JEP warned in recent weeks that the department of Santander is where most threats against environmental leaders are registered.

Let this be the opportunity to request as the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries, that the commitment to strengthen transparency and accountability in the management of the extractive sectors through the implementation of the EITI Standard be fulfilled. The agreement was signed by Colombia in 2018 and is expected to be validated in 2022.

Finally, we recall that ratifying the Escazú Agreement brings us closer to ethical codes and consensus for the construction of the common good, and shows that Congress is on the side of the vast majority of citizens who expect greater guarantees for access to a decent life in Colombia.

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Mining in ethnic territories is an issue in which ancestral practices, territorial rights, economic interests, environmental protection, land use planning, human rights, among other issues, converge, and is therefore not free of controversy and debate. An example of this is the tensions surrounding the full and transparent implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consultation and Consent when authorizing mining projects (national and international) in ethnic territories and the current lack of an adequate legal and institutional framework, resulting from an authentic intercultural dialogue, for the use and exploitation of minerals by ethnic groups.

Cycle III: Conservation and Diversification in Pacific Mining Territories

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Bogotá, February 26, 2022

On February 25, the XXV Meeting of the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries was held to discuss key issues for the promotion of transparency and access to information in the extractive sector and citizen participation in the implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Colombia.

The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries is an instance that emerged in November 2013 and today brings together more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions, located in different parts of the country.

New members

At its XXV meeting, held virtually, the new organizations joining the Roundtable were formally presented: NRGI and the Corporación Cívica de Caldas, as well as the reactivation of the Comité de Seguimiento a la Inversión de las Regalías de Córdoba (CISR).

The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) is an independent international non-profit organization. NRGI helps people reap the benefits of their countries’ natural resource wealth, oil, gas and minerals through applied research and capacity building approaches and technical advice.

The Corporación Cívica de Caldas is a civil society organization with 40 years of experience, whose mission is to defend the collective interest in the department of Caldas. Its work includes social control through citizen oversight, monitoring of extractive projects and community accompaniment.

Diagnostic guide to corruption in the extractive sector

During the Meeting, NRGI presented to the Bureau the “Diagnostic Guide to Corruption in the Extractive Sector, a tool for research and action”. This is a participatory methodology that seeks to diagnose corruption in the extractive industries to support evidence-based actions to address this issue.

In addition, the organization Crudo Transparente presented its progress in the implementation of the guide, focused on building participatory strategies to reduce corruption risks in the Colombian oil sector.

Balance

During the Meeting, there was also a reflection on the challenges and progress of the action plans of the Subcommittees of the Roundtable, namely: General Royalties System, EITI and Environmental Affairs, as well as the Communications Committee.

Finally, the representatives to the National Tripartite Committee presented the current status of the EITI validation process in Colombia, which is scheduled to take place over the next few months.

“The La Mesa session ended with very good results. We have an action plan to promote the participation of civil society in the validation of the EITI in the country,” explained Pilar Acosta, project coordinator of Transparency for Colombia and member of the Technical Secretariat of the Roundtable. “That is why this year we plan to meet in priority territories, such as Casanare and Cesar,” he added.

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105 projects between 2013 and 2019 are committed in those that have not been delivered or closed in the department of Cesar and that belong to the General Royalties System, SGR, according to data published by the Committee for Monitoring the Investment of Royalties in Cesar, CSIR.

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Wednesday, November 17, 2.5 hours. The first day of the event will begin with an introductory presentation and then the discussion will be divided into two panels: (1) transparency and access to environmental information, and (2) energy transition.

Thursday, November 18, 2 hours. The second day of the event will begin with an introductory presentation and then the discussion will focus on the panel: environmental rights defenders, in the framework of the Escazú Agreement.

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The company explained that its exit was due to the fact that it was not financially able to develop the operation, due to the low price of the mineral in the world.

“The decision to relinquish the mining contracts has not been taken lightly and is a disappointing outcome. During the last 30 years of mining activity in the country, the group has invested more than 3 billion dollars and paid around the same amount in royalties and taxes,” the company explained in a statement.

“We had the hotel thirty years ago,” Marcos laments. We rented rooms to Prodeco workers. The business generated an average monthly income of 6 million pesos, now we barely have one guest who represents 300,000 pesos. We are on the verge of closing”.

The cessation of mining activity is significantly evident in La Jagua de Ibiríco, since 80 percent of its economic dynamics derives directly and indirectly from coal mining.

“In the end, there will be no one left in the company. There will be 5,000 jobs lost, both direct and indirect, in the two mines of La Jagua and Calenturitas,” said Alfredo Coronado, mining advisor to the Cesar Government.

Coronado adds that the impact is high, since the average salary was 3 million pesos, so “we would be talking about 15 billion pesos a month, which would be 180 billion pesos a year, the money that circulated in the area”.

The municipality’s income will also be affected. “We will stop receiving around 20,000 million pesos in royalties, as well as the amount of resources that stop circulating because most of them depend on these resources,” stressed Ovelio Jiménez, mayor of La Jagua.

Now the people are different. Commercial establishments significantly decreased their income, some could not withstand the onslaught and were forced to close, while others are operating at half capacity. Laundry and food service workers have left these trades and the informal sector has increased in the area, such as motorcycle taxis and street vending.

Jaime Luis Ochoaone of the businessmen in the mining area, affirms that the closing of Prodeco affected his field of action due to the non-payment of bank loans to which he had access for the consolidation of his business processes, the purchase of machinery and supplies with which he had been providing services to the company.

“The mining company left us adrift. It provided operational, heavy equipment and industrial safety training services. We created it in 2008 and since 2017 it was providing services to that company and we had to close it on March 24 last year. I have my business and personal accounts seized and today we are bankrupt. The National Guarantee Fund is charging us for the support it offered for these loans. The National Government has not said anything so far,” Ochoa stressed.

Consequences throughout Cesar

Coal mining is one of the most important activities in Cesar, impacting not only La Jagua de Ibirico but also the commercial dynamics of the other municipalities in the so-called mining corridor: Agustín Codazzi, Becerril, El Paso and Chiriguaná.

A total of 46 million tons are mined annually in the region, from which nearly 225,000 million pesos are earned in direct royalties.

And with the exit of Prodeco, Cesar would no longer receive about 30 percent of the annual royalties generated by the mining activity, which is fluctuating between 40,000 and 60,000 million pesos.

“The company contributed to the department’s grand total of between 15 and 18 million tons that it has been producing lately,” said Manuel Mejia Pallares, secretary of mines of Cesar.

A shock for the inhabitants of the mining corridor, political leaders and unions of the department that, apparently, did not take them by surprise, since the company had been making layoffs since 2020.

“Since the pandemic, all operations in these areas have been suspended,” said Jesús Chacón, a member of the workers’ union.

“The company had about 2,600 workers, of which 300 were dismissed and 1,200 took advantage of the voluntary retirement plans that the company has been offering. At the moment it has 950 workers,” explained Robertson Salazar, general secretary of Sintramienergética in La Jagua.

In view of this situation, the National Mining Agency (ANM) has until tomorrow to make a decision regarding the relinquishment of the titles by the Prodeco Group, assessing the environmental, economic and social obligations of the company in the territory.

“That is to say, all these obligations contracted by the company must be reviewed, according to the contract license, sanitizing the mining responsibility, the compensation with the department and the municipalities,” said Mejia Pallares.

Has the coal industry come to an end?

Experts have mixed views on the future of the coal industry in Colombia.

Falling prices, the pandemic and decarbonization in 2020 exacerbated the crisis in this sector.

Adding to Prodeco’ s news was that last year El Cerrejón closed its exports with 13.6 million tons (the lowest in the last 18 years, representing a 50 percent drop with respect to 2019 exports). Drummond did not perform so badly, with a 10.3 percent decrease in extraction and a 4.4 percent decrease in foreign sales.

Despite this, Juan Camilo Nariño, president of the Colombian Mining Association (ACM), maintains that the industry has not come to an end in our country.

“Colombia has a great opportunity to reach new markets. The demand for the mineral has changed its destination and will continue to do so, concentrating on Asia,” says Nariño, who adds that the country has 70 years of reserves that are still pending to be extracted and continue generating employment, taxes and royalties.

However, Julio César Verapresident of the XUA Energy FoundationThe coal industry is in its final quarter of an hour, he says, which, he says, should give the National Government and to those engaged in this field an incentive to give back to the coal regions what has historically been denied to them.

“There is a trend in the world to move to much cleaner energies, so coal is not in those plans. It is necessary that this historical misappropriation of royalty resources be returned with social projects and real investments for these areas that live on these resources, because when they leave they will be left adrift,” Vera said.

Regarding the coal outlook in the country, Vera argues that as the United States advances in its implementation of exploiting unconventional deposits, Colombia will be able to advance in the use of coal in a responsible manner to take advantage of the final stretch of this material.

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