{"id":50011256,"date":"2018-06-15T13:34:55","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T12:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.dialogochino.net\/?p=11256"},"modified":"2019-02-13T18:00:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T18:00:47","slug":"11256-colombia-heads-to-the-polls-with-new-environmental-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/11256-colombia-heads-to-the-polls-with-new-environmental-conscience\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia heads to the polls with new environmental conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colombians vote for their next president on Sunday and for the first time in decades, the nature of the country\u2019s\u00a0extractive<\/a>-oriented economic model is the subject of serious debate. Left-wing challenger Gustavo Petro, a former mayor of Bogota, surprised analysts\u2019 early projections to reach the run-off vote with an economic manifesto for a \u201chumane Colombia\u201d that looks to phase out oil and mining and convert Colombia into \u201can agrarian and agricultural power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Colombia about to move away from its oil and coal dependence? Probably not. Petro trails right-wing candidate Ivan Duque by an average of\u00a013 points across the latest round<\/a>\u00a0of polls and has a 20% probability of winning, according to national daily\u00a0El Tiempo.\u00a0<\/em>Even if the ex-M-19<\/a>\u00a0guerrilla pulls off an upset, any attempts at a large-scale overhaul of the liberal economic order would be nearly impossible, given that congress has\u00a0a strong right-wing<\/a>\u00a0bent.<\/p>\n

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77%<\/p>\n

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\nrespondents considered environmental issues\u00a0to be \u201cvery important\u201d to deciding their vote
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But Petro\u2019s decision to put environmental concerns at the centre of the debate had a profound effect on the campaign. In April, the\u00a0Gran Encuesta,\u00a0<\/em>one of the largest polls undertaken through various media outlets, found that\u00a077% of respondents considered environmental issues<\/a>\u00a0to be \u201cvery important\u201d to deciding their vote, placing them behind healthcare and security, but ahead of taxation, the\u00a0peace process<\/a>\u00a0and pension reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time that the environment debate has had a major impact on the presidential campaign,\u201d Margarita Florez, director of Bogota-based environmental NGO Ambiente y Sociedad, told\u00a0Di\u00e1logo Chino<\/em>. \u201cEnvironmental activists have lobbied hard in recent years to make changes to Colombia\u2019s national development plan. Today, citizens demand a greater say over the development of natural resources projects; they can see the effects of negligent environmental planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

This has been evident in two major environmental incidents, which have buffeted the campaign. For the duration of March, the Lizama oil well, owned by state-run hydrocarbons firm Ecopetrol, pumped an estimated\u00a0550 barrels of crude<\/a>\u00a0into major water sources near the city of Barrancabermeja in the western department of Santander, leaving a slick 30 kilometres long.<\/p>\n

Then in May, a\u00a0malfunction at the Hidroituango dam<\/a>, 175 kilometres north of second city Medell\u00edn led to flooding and the evacuation of 24,000 people living downstream. The project is financed by a fund administered by the Inter-American Development Bank, to which the People\u2019s Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) pay in, according to Ambiente y Sociedad\u00a0research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Footage of both disasters was\u00a0widely shared on social media<\/a>\u00a0and highlighted the inability of the state to regulate and supervise major corporations. The fact that current regulations were insufficient to prevent a spill at a relatively straight forward, conventional oil well such as Lizama, suggests that they will struggle to prevent similar occurrences with more complex \u201cfracking\u201d projects, which have been met with widespread resistance.<\/p>\n

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Retweeted Noticias Caracol (@NoticiasCaracol<\/a>):<\/p>\n

M\u00e1s de 25 mil personas han sido evacuadas en el Bajo Cauca. Seg\u00fan la UNGRD, la comunidad ha acatado la orden #HidroituangoEnEmergencia<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/RdfdpSdvDa<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/BTUb30SYve<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Juan Andr\u00e9s Ubarnes. (@JuanUbarnes) May 22, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n