THE 10 MOST SERIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN COLOMBIA - ENVIRONMENT - 2025

The environmental problems in Colombia, such as air pollution or high deforestation continue to generate high costs in health and deterioration of environmental resources.

By 2014, according to the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice, Colombia was the country with the greatest environmental problems in Latin America, something alarming as it is the second country in biodiversity in the world after hosting 15% of the fauna and flora of the earth..

The main problems have been generated by anthropogenic contamination, from which activities such as deforestation, the illegal trade in fauna and flora, and hunting derive.

However, industrial activities and strong armed conflicts have in turn contributed to exacerbating the environmental crisis.

By March 2017, the local authorities of the city of Medellín were forced to communicate a red alert due to the intense air pollution caused by the polluting gases emitted by vehicles and industries mainly.

Although the government has implemented different environmental policies, regulations and statutes with the aim of improving environmental quality, various problems remain.

Main environmental problems of Colombia

1- Air pollution

According to the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, the cities with the greatest air pollution problems are Bogotá and Medellín.

This is due to the fact that a high amount of pollutants from industry and transportation condense in them.

In Colombia, this type of pollution is caused mainly by manufacturing industries and mining operations, along with the burning of agricultural materials and pollutants from automobiles.

The urbanized province of Antioquia, the Aburrá Valley, has also been classified as one of the most polluted areas in Colombia for three main reasons.

In the first place, the increase in the vehicle fleet, since the number of cars increased by 304%, with 50% of the vehicle fleet being more than fifty years old.

Secondly, the topography of the area, since the basin in which Medellín and nine other municipalities of Antioquia are located has a depth of 1 km and 7 kilometers long, which generates that 58% of the population concentrates in that area generating a kind of polluting “pressure cooker”.

And finally, the lack of green areas is important since there is a deficit of more than 700 trees.

Currently, this type of pollution is one of the main problems since the air quality decreases every day.

2- Water pollution

Since 2011, the National Institute of Health in Colombia revealed that half of the country's departments register contaminated water that is used for human consumption.

An alarming situation originated because the main urban centers in the interior of Colombia have grown uncontrollably around continental or maritime bodies of water.

There are terrible basic sanitation conditions, which has contributed to the discharge of wastewater and an inadequate disposal of solid waste that is usually transported by the Magdalena, Cauca, San Juan and Patía rivers mainly.

Although Colombia is the sixth country with the largest water supply in the world, the Colombian Ministry of the Environment estimates that half of its water resources are contaminated.

This is due to inappropriate forms of mining and agro-industrial activities where chemicals and pesticides are thrown into the waters.

Today, cities like Barranquilla have only oxidation ponds before the water is discharged, and in the case of Bogotá, it is estimated that its water treatment plan only processes 20% of the waste produced by the population.

This is combined with a great lack of urban planning as the main cities such as Bogotá, Cali, Cuco, Magdalena and Medellín are hydraulically collapsed.

3- Destruction of the biogeographic Chocó

The biogeographic Chocó is an area that includes territories of Colombia, Ecuador and Panama and that houses more than 10% of the planet's biodiversity.

The Chocó occupies approximately 2% of the earth's surface and is one of the richest natural spaces in the world. However, a great variety of ecosystems, and with them 25% of the world's endemic species, are being destroyed.

In Colombia, it is present in the departments of Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Cauca, Nariño and to a lesser extent Antioquia.

It is mainly in danger due to the activities of exploitation of natural resources and mining that have been carried out in the area, and the massive destruction of trees and the illegal commercialization of species.

Colombia is carrying out two projects in the area. One regarding the construction of the missing section of the Pan-American Highway; and another, consisting of the construction of an interoceanic canal.

All these activities are causing the loss of the area of ​​greatest biodiversity in Colombia.

4- High deforestation

The deforestation rate in Colombia has reached alarming levels in recent years, a situation that is reflected in the loss of 178,597 hectares of forest in 2016.

This rate increased by 44% in that year due to excessive pasture, extensive livestock farming, illicit crops, development of road infrastructure, extraction of minerals and natural resources, and forest fires.

What is more worrying is that 95% of this uncontrolled logging is concentrated in 7 departments of the country: Caquetá, Chocó, Meta, Antioquia, Norte de Santander, Guaviare and Putumayo, 60.2% corresponding to the Amazon.

5- Illegal mining

It constitutes one of the main environmental threats facing the country as a result of open-pit gold mining. It is estimated that already in 2014, the country had more than 78,939 hectares affected by criminal networks.

The problem is that illegal activity is causing 46% of the ecological damage in the Chocó jungle, the country's main lung.

In addition to the fact that drug trafficking networks and armed groups have settled around the illegal gold mines of Chocó, which in addition to environmental destruction has generated violence and poverty.

According to the Comptroller General of the Republic in Colombia, there are more than 30 rivers contaminated by illegal gold mining activity, and more than 80 contaminated with mercury.

6- Monocultures and illicit crops

Monocultures are understood to be large areas of land where trees and other types of plants of only one species are planted.

This situation is generating the loss of biodiversity and soil degradation in the Colombian country.

In Colombia, the illegal planting of African palm is being carried out throughout the north of the country, which is affecting various communities at an environmental and human level, as their lands are being invaded and their human rights violated.

7- Use of African palm in the generation of fuels

In Colombia, 10% of palm biodiesel is being mixed with diesel, which is contributing to the shortage of this important local raw material.

At the same time that intensive cultivation is being carried out, which in addition to polluting the environment has damaged numerous habitats and forests.

8- Garbage

Official reports indicate that Colombia generated 9 million 967 thousand tons of garbage during 2015. 96.8% of this solid waste was dumped in sanitary landfills, most of which is reaching the end of its useful life.

Of the 32,000 tons of daily garbage produced in the country, barely 17% is recycled.

Out of 147 landfills operating in Colombia, 13 operate with an expired operating license, and another 20 have just under a year of useful life. Likewise, 21 landfills have only 1 to 3 years of capacity and 41 of them will only be able to operate between 3 and 10 years.

In the areas where these sanitary landfills are located, the social and pollution problems that are generated are evident, affecting the communities that must live with bad smells and diseases on a daily basis.

Other official data estimate that about 30% of the solid waste produced in more than half of the Colombian municipalities is dumped in open-air landfills. Each inhabitant in Colombia generates an average of 0.71 waste per day. 70% of them are organic matter.

In large cities the situation is much more complex. Only in Bogotá 2 million 102 tons are generated annually. In Cali, garbage production is 648 thousand 193 tons, in Medellín 612 thousand 644 tons, Barranquilla 483 thousand 615 tons and in Cartagena 391 thousand.

9- Sonic pollution

In the country, about 5 million people (11% of the total population) suffer from hearing problems due to permanent exposure to noise and other agents that damage the ear.

Among the economically active population between the ages of 25 and 50, hearing loss due to sonic pollution and noise is an alarming 14%.

In accordance with the standards and recommendations of the World Health Organization, in Colombia a maximum of 65 decibels (dB) was established during the day and 45 at night in residential areas. In commercial and industrial areas the tolerance level reaches 70 dB during the day and 60 dB at night.

Sonic pollution is produced by land transport, for which there are no rules that regulate noise except blowing horns. Likewise, air transport, formal and informal commerce, discos and bars, industry and private individuals.

10- Salinization of soils

Soil degradation by salinization is a chemical process that occurs naturally or induced by man.

It is estimated that 40% of the Colombian territory, that is, about 45 million hectares, is affected in some way by erosion. 2.9 percent (3.3 million ha) suffer from severe or very severe erosion, 16.8 percent (19.2 million ha) have moderate erosion and 20 percent (22.8 million ha) slight erosion.

In the 2.9% affected by severe erosion, there is no possibility of fertility of the land, nor that it can fulfill its functions of regulating and storing water and being useful to biodiversity.

The departments most affected by erosion degradation that exceeds 70% are: Cesar, Caldas, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Santander, La Guajira, Atlántico, Magdalena, Sucre, Tolima, Quindío, Huila and Boyaca.

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