This could not come at a more crucial time. Most of the minerals needed for the world to transition to sustainable energy are found in countries where corruption is endemic. This allows funds that could be used for sustainable development and support populations in need to be used instead to favor corrupt activities and even violence. The Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, has scored 20 out of 100 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, as corruption hinders the government’s management of mining operations, allowing violent conflict over the country’s mineral resources.

These risks are high in the different sectors of the extractive industries. As the world moves away from fossil fuels, there are growing risks in the markets for minerals such as copper, lithium and cobalt, which are necessary for the energy transition.

Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair of Transparency International, said:

“The EITI, as a global initiative representing transparency and civil society participation in the often opaque and corruption-prone extractive sector, can play a leading role in both the fight against corruption and for a just energy transition. Unfortunately, the current standard is insufficient. We call on the initiative to strengthen its anti-corruption provisions, particularly by requiring implementing countries to establish beneficial ownership registries with robust verification mechanisms, as well as comprehensive integrity control measures during the licensing process. The EITI must ensure that the climate transition does not come at the expense of democracy, the environment and human rights in extractive countries.”

The EITI Board should strengthen the EITI Standard to require implementing countries to establish verification mechanisms to ensure that beneficial ownership information provided by mining, oil and gas corporations is accurate and up to date. Also expand the scope of information that companies must disclose to include the ownership structure in a comprehensive manner. In addition, the report should highlight
any connection of the companies with the licensing authorities.

EITI should also support and expand capacity building measures within multi-stakeholder groups to enable civil society actors and government representatives to understand, use and verify beneficial ownership data. EITI reports lack intelligibility to the public because they are highly technical. The EITI must implement a new approach focused on communication and knowledge if it is to fulfill its mission of strengthening public and corporate governance and accountability and informing policymaking in the extractive sector.

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Best regards.

On behalf of the Central Region Chapter Forum we invite you to each one of you and your work teams to participate in our fourth session of the Update Cycle on Extractive Activity in Colombia, which is being carried out with the support of the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries.

Cycle: Extractive activity in Colombia
Session 4: Environmental impacts of extractive activities in Colombia and Environmental liabilities

Time: 10 Mar 2023 08:00 a.m. Bogotá

Join the Zoom meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3132652172

In order to enrich the debate, we share with you the following texts:

Environmental Mining Diagnosis of Liabilities in the National Territory. Office of Environmental and Social Affairs. Progress and actions taken with respect to “Environmental Liabilities”. Ministry of Mines and Energy. https://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.andi.com.co//Uploads/Presentacion%20PASIVOS%20AMBIENTALES%20MINEROS-SECTORIAL.pdf

Text approved in first debate in semi-presential session of the fifth permanent constitutional commission of the house of representatives on June 7, 2022. Bill no. 117 of 2021 House of Representatives. https://www.%20AMBIENTALES%

Management of environmental liabilities in Colombia National Planning Department Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate Lizeth Cantor ycantor@dnp.gov.co August, 2019. https://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/events/files/8._liceth_cantor_pasivosambientales_dnp.pdf

Greetings,

Mario Freddy Martínez Pulido

Chief Executive Officer

Central Region Chapter Forum

Tel: (+601) 4108129

Address: Cra. 13 # 35-43 Edificio Internacional Office 1101 – Bogotá D.C.

E-: direccion.bogota@foro.org.co

https:/fundacionfororegioncentral.org/

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With royalty resources of $1,033,100,000, the project that initiated the Departmental Music Plan in the department of Caldas was approved. It was 2013 and the Eje Cafetero and Antioquia Regional Collegiate Administrative and Decision Making Body (OCAD) approved its execution between 2013 and 2014, with a focus on peace and coexistence, and with a projection to 2025.

In 2022, the Caldas Civic Corporation analyzed its contractual and budgetary execution and its impact over time, finding 26 alerts: 17 for formulation and execution, seven for information deficiencies, and two for project incidences.

Among the most relevant warnings is that although the approved budget for the project was $1,033,100,000, the executed budget, according to the response to the right of petition sent to the Secretary of Culture of Caldas, was $984,969,449. In addition, unforeseen expenses were identified due to differences between the estimates and what was actually executed in the hiring of teachers, advertising, the purchase of some items and transportation. For example, the latter had a 729% increase in investment, going from $30,720,000 to $223,968,183; and likewise, the purchase of 216 acoustic guitars and 540 strings for them was projected, but 108 and 324 were purchased, respectively.

For the development of this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with different actors, such as members of eight of the 27 music schools that benefited, two experts, and the current and former Secretary of Culture of the department; in addition to conducting a background search in databases and platforms of the SGR, reviewing the document that formulated the Plan, and sending a right of petition.

The above not only made it possible to identify these alerts and conclusions, but also to define a step-by-step approach to carry out social control of a cultural sector project in the SGR, taking into account that at the time of the research, 5,229 projects had been approved in Colombia for transportation and 405 for culture; in Caldas, 712 and 26, respectively.

Long range

This Plan benefited 5,508 Caldenses, especially children and adolescents, mainly with the creation or strengthening of 27 music schools in the department. As of 2022, 24 schools were still in operation.

Of the 44 contracts executed, 12 were signed with women or companies whose legal representative was a woman. From a retrospective look at the present time, the music experts assured that there is a lack of public policies on gender and sexual diversity in these spaces, however, a much more friendly and open space is perceived.

The Corporación Cívica de Caldas will consult with ALAC (Anti-Corruption Legal Advice Center of Transparencia por Colombia) on the most relevant alerts, from a pedagogical approach, in order to provide guidelines for monitoring and identifying opportunities for timely reporting. It also urges that these should not be repeated.

To consult the document click on this link.

For more information, please write to: secretariatecnica@transparenciacolombia.org.co

The post Caldas Departmental Music Plan: a project executed with royalties between 2013 and 2014, which still shows benefits and challenges. appeared first on Mesa de la Sociedad Civil para la transparencia en las Industrias Extractivas.

The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries Extractive Industries presents to the public the report on the mining regulatory framework for Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) in Colombia and its link with international Transparency criteria., a legal and political analysis document with a gender and citizen participation approach for the understanding of ASM in the country. This document was developed by Fundación Atabaque, within the framework of the activities of the action plan of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) Subcommittee.

This document is based on more than seven years of experience of the Atabaque Foundation in the municipalities of Istmina, Condoto and Quibdó and a judicious process of review and analysis of secondary sources, and aims to provide a global understanding of ASM in Colombia and its relationship and implementation of international standards and guidelines, based on the particular realities and contexts of the territories with mining vocation in the department of Chocó.

With this objective in mind, the authors present a series of reflections, explanations, clarifications and calls to action based on five thematic axes: artisanal mining (Chocó case), formality, human rights and international humanitarian law, gender, extortion, bribery and money laundering. Likewise, as the document progresses, readers will find an important cross-cutting analysis of the forms and scope of community participation in their territories.

This study shows that conflicts between the various actors involved in ASM are generated by the lack of a collective vision on economic, social and environmental development issues at the local, regional, national and transnational levels. On the other hand, governments have created legal and regulatory frameworks that have facilitated the access of multinationals to exploit non-renewable resources and that are far removed from the practices and interests of local communities. In this sense, the social and cultural values that are integrated into the mining practice in the various regions of the country are not represented in the standards and, in the case of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the reporting of data on social, economic, environmental and fiscal matters is still incipient.

Likewise, the document becomes a window that gradually reveals the threats, challenges, situations, and events that violate life, relations with the environment, and the capacity and opportunity for men and women to decide on their territories, their practices, and their own ways of shaping their daily lives.

The circulation of this type of study materials is valuable, as expressed by Marisol Gómez, co-author of this research, because […] it is seen as a window of opportunity to broaden the understanding of the role they play, the disposition they show and the challenges faced by ASM communities in the territories. Isabel Blandón, executive director of Fundación Atabaque, says that this document allows us to understand the wide range of meanings and representations that ASM has according to the territories where it coexists. [That is to say, we cannot understand it away from social and historical processes or incorporate it only as a purely economic activity, but it has a whole cultural, ethnic, relational, social, political and identity framework.

The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries promotes citizen participation and access to information in the different processes and value chains of the industry. This is done through the work of more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions from different regions of the country, which jointly carry out research, advocacy and citizen control activities regarding transparency in the extractive sector.

To consult the study visit: https://mesatransparenciaextractivas.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MAPE-en-EITI.pdf

For more information, please write to: secretariatecnica@transparenciacolombia.org.co

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