{"id":27920,"date":"2026-02-26T17:35:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=27920"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:35:52","slug":"goodbye-to-mining-in-the-heart-of-the-jungle-colombia-makes-history-by-declaring-its-entire-amazon-region-free-of-hydrocarbons-and-mega-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/goodbye-to-mining-in-the-heart-of-the-jungle-colombia-makes-history-by-declaring-its-entire-amazon-region-free-of-hydrocarbons-and-mega-mining\/27920\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye to mining in the heart of the jungle: Colombia makes history by declaring its entire Amazon region free of hydrocarbons and mega-mining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a decision that could reshape the future of the rainforest, Colombia has moved to declare all of its share of the Amazon rainforest a Renewable Natural Resources Reserve, closing the door to new large-scale mining<\/a> and hydrocarbon projects across 483,000 square kilometers of tropical forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That area represents about 42% of Colombia\u2019s continental territory and roughly 7% of the whole Amazon basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement came in Bel\u00e9m do Par\u00e1 during the environment ministers meeting of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization<\/a> (known as OTCA) at COP30<\/a>, where acting environment minister Irene V\u00e9lez Torres described the move as Colombia \u201ctaking the first step\u201d and invited neighboring countries to join an \u201cAmazon Alliance for Life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A historic shield for a vital forest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On paper it looks like a zoning change. In practice, it places a political shield over more than 48 million hectares of rainforest that help regulate rainfall, cool the region and store vast amounts of carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: In 2019, China did something that seems crazy: \u201ccover\u201d glaciers with giant blankets. Now, in 2026, data shows how much they actually slow down melting<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Scientists warn that the Amazon as a whole is already close to a tipping point where deforestation between 20% and 25%<\/a> could push large swaths toward a dry savanna type landscape<\/a>. Current estimates place total forest loss near that lower bound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For farmers watching rainy seasons become less predictable and city dwellers facing harsher heat waves, keeping this \u201cgreen air conditioner\u201d running is not an abstract concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the ban actually covers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The new reserve status applies to six departments in the Colombian Amazon region, including Amazonas, Caquet\u00e1, Guaviare, Guain\u00eda, Putumayo and Vaup\u00e9s. Within that territory, the government says it will stop granting new licenses for industrial-scale mining and oil and gas exploration or production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to official figures, the measure is designed to block the future development of 43 planned hydrocarbon blocks and around 286 pending mining applications that had not yet broken ground. In simple terms, it tries to close the door before these projects ever move from paper to bulldozers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communities and biodiversity at the center<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Colombian Amazon is not an empty green patch on the map. It is home to about 1.2 million people, most of them Indigenous, small-scale farmers and Afro descendent communities who have acted as de facto forest guardians for generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: At a depth of 3.2 km and next to a volcano, they have recorded the largest octopus nursery on the planet, the size of 233 soccer fields and full of incubating mothers<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The region hosts around 10% of all known plant species on Earth and plays a key role in feeding Andean wetlands that supply water to millions. V\u00e9lez has framed the policy as an ethical choice rather than a simple economic trade off, saying that caring for the Amazon is an \u201cethical investment in the future of the region and of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional cooperation and a new Amazon commission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the same COP30 event, the Amazon countries launched a new Special Commission on Environment and Climate, known as Cemac, under the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA). The platform is meant to coordinate action on sustainable development, biodiversity, forests and water, and to tackle environmental crimes that do not stop at national borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombia has asked that Cemac become the main space to implement the Bel\u00e9m Declaration<\/a> on Amazon cooperation and to push, over time, for a regional deal that phases out fossil fuels in the basin. The message is clear enough. One country\u2019s ban will not save the forest if its neighbors keep drilling and digging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big promise, real hurdles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is also a legal and political reality check. Shortly after the announcement, Colombia\u2019s Interior Ministry reminded the government that any decision of this scale must go through a formal prior consultation process with hundreds of Indigenous and other ethnic communities in the region before it can fully enter into force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That requirement has temporarily placed the measure in suspense while authorities work out how to conduct that consultation across such a vast and remote territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: China has just found a 1,444-ton gold \u201cmonster\u201d valued at more than $150 billion, and the strangest thing is that they say it is the largest find since 1949<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Even once the rule is finalized, enforcement will be a test. Illegal gold mining, land grabbing and informal road building already fragment many of the ecosystems the resolution seeks to protect. Alternatives that bring income without clearing trees will be essential if the promise of a \u201cjust energy transition\u201d<\/a> is to feel real in river towns far from Bogot\u00e1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, Colombia has drawn a firm green line across its share of the Amazon and invited the rest of the basin to step up alongside it. Whether that line holds on the ground will influence not only local communities, but the global climate that shapes everything from crop yields to the electricity bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official statement was issued by Colombia\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a decision that could reshape the future of the rainforest, Colombia has moved to declare all of its share … <\/p>\n

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