Only Paramo elevation established is in SantanderHere is an interesting article dealing with the Paramo. The only Paramo limits established is in Santander leaving illegal mining intact elsewhere in Colombia. Also Interesting comments on the Humbholt recommendation .
https://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2016/02/26/colombia-400-mining-licenses-cancelled-to-protect-paramo/
Mining Licenses Cancelled to Protect “Pramo”
from Contagio Radio
translated by Earth First! Journal
The [Colombian] Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the Alternative Democratic Pole members who sued the National Development Plan for having allowed permanent mining licenses in pramo areas [high, treeless plateaus; moors; tundras]. The challenge now, for the State and specifically for the Ministry of Environment, will be to implement this decision by removing 400 mining licenses.
This year, the Ministry of Environment announced that it will begin the process of delineating the pramo zones so that the Ministry is forced to take into account social and environmental conflicts, as well as the opinions of communities who have a relationship to the ecosystem, in a manner that guarantees the protection of the pramo, explained the lawyer Natalia Gmez, of the Environment and Society Association.
“There was a paragraph which was not [included in the suit or demanded] that obligated the Ministry of the Environment to delineate the pramos limits,” said the lawyer who is questioning whether the Ministry of Environment will accept the requirements of the Von Humbolt institution [?].
Even though Colombia has the highest percentage of pramos in all the Americas, the only pramo which is delineated is found in Santurbn, in Santander, whose border is quite controversial as it did not coincide with the community’s needs nor does it offer this ecosystem any protection.
Between the years 2002 and 2009, the government issued mining licenses without requiring any national or multinational corporations to meet major requirements. During these years, the [mining] licensed land grew from 1.1 million hectares to 8.4 million hectares [from 3,861 square miles to 32,432 square miles] and 391 mining licenses were issued for land on pramos extending over 108,000 hectares [417 square miles]. Getting them out of there will not be as easy as giving the licenses was.
According to the lawyer, Gmez, the current government lost with the Court’s decision, since the companies have invested millions of dollars in these mining projects. The State must meet the Constitutional Court’s sentence, and furthermore, when forming the delineations it must consider not only the pramo but the [land’s] allover ecological inter-connectivity and topography, and criticisms that arise from social consultation.