The National Mining Agency (ANM) in alliance with the Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina Valledupar, held on July 26, 2017 the forum “Mining well done.
Mining Done Right
“, giving space for debate on topics such as “
Mining well done and social dialogue.
“. Representatives of the different institutions involved in the mining activity participated in this discussion space, among them: the Vice Minister of Mines, Carlos Andrés Cante, the Vice Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Carlos Alberto Botero, the President of the ANM, Silvana Habib Daza, the Executive Director of the Dialogue Group on Mining in Colombia (GDIAM), María Isabel Ulloa, the Rector of the Andean Area and President of the Royalties Investment Monitoring Committee -CSIR Cesar- Gelca Gutiérrez Barranco, the Secretary of Mines and the Secretary of Environment of the Department of Cesar, Carmen Galvis and Arturo Fernández, respectively. Mayors of mining municipalities in the departments of Cesar and La Guajira and representatives of the mining companies Drummond, Prodeco and Cerrejón also participated.

In this space, it was considered that in Colombia and at the subnational level, the regions are stagnating in debates that do not lead to taking advantage of the current conditions in which the territories find themselves; and at the same time, they are moving away from the search for fundamental solutions to the problems of land management, planning and project execution. It was emphasized that the productive sector, especially in the Department of Cesar, contributes significant amounts to the entire nation from the mining activity carried out in the department.

Employability, productive linkages, territorial development, the use of community spaces to listen and support training processes and the empowerment of the mining activity are challenges of the sector, which show significant progress. However, they still require intervention strategies and sustainability over time, in order to obtain different results, especially, to understand the economic model, its sustainability and the legal framework that supports the exercise of each of the links of the economy in our country. It is not a matter of generating chaos and talking only about negative impacts; it is also necessary to analyze the positive actions and define whether mining activity can be carried out in a responsible, legal and sustainable manner, contributing and generating development in the regions.

In order to talk about mining well done and social dialogue, we must start with knowledge and it is here where the Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina, through the CSIR, has believed that change must be generated. Investment monitoring is not possible if the overseers, community leaders, departmental and municipal administration officials do not know the sector, do not master the issues of production chains, mining and environmental legislation, background information, and most importantly, planning, development plans consistent with the needs of the territory, and project formulations that generate changes. This is the focus of the committee, rather than providing figures and generating quantitative reports on the sector, we want to impact and transform through the transmission of knowledge.

María Isabel Ulloa, Executive Director of GDIAM, pointed out that a different dialogue in a sector that represents 2.5 percent of GDP and generates 350,000 jobs must be permanent, the working groups must have a long-term methodology, the dynamics of the territories, local visions and visions of the country must be understood, on how to take advantage of natural resources.

The mining sector’s own discussions must be rethought; we cannot continue to argue over land use. At present we are debating between productive sectors, the agricultural sector confronted with the mining sector, in a discussion that although it is conducive to debate, it is not a solution to environmental problems, sustainable development, and the rate of satisfaction of basic needs.