Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
Embedded Files
How would you describe the situation in Chocó?
How would you describe the situation in Chocó?
The department of Chocó, in the Republic of Colombia, is an example of an impoverished population coexisting with abundance. With around 550 thousand inhabitants and a predominantly Afro-descendant ethnic identity, it faces significant challenges such as poverty, low levels of education, deficient infrastructure, lack of drinking water and basic services. Paradoxically, Chocó is a tropical region endowed with vast wealth, including water, precious metals, tropical hardwood, and biological diversity. Additionally, it presents extraordinary potential in key economic sectors, particularly in energy and transportation including the ideal location for an interoceanic channel. Chocó harbors undeveloped opportunities that could catalyze a transformative change in the present and future development of chocoan communities.
Current mining activity in Chocó is carried out through cooperation between community councils, mining associations, landowners, local mining entrepreneurs, suppliers of mining inputs and machinery. These actors play a crucial role in what constitutes the backbone of the community's economic activity. However, state intervention is limited to areas with exploitation permits. In everyday reality, the community continues to exploit its resources in the forest reserve, facing a complex social problem exacerbated by army interventions, including the destruction of machinery and the criminalization of individuals for illegal extraction. The intersection of these complex dynamics contributes to a humanitarian crisis that requires urgent attention and a comprehensive strategy to use the mining of gold and platinum to battle poverty and exclusion.
What is the national government's position regarding the situation in Chocó?
What is the national government's position regarding the situation in Chocó?
Currently, much of the territory in Chocó is collectively owned by black communities (Law 70 of 1993), communities that arrived around 1605 as African slaves transferred by miners from the Popayán and Valle del Cauca. Despite the need to change the political and administrative centralism and grant administrative autonomy to territorial entities, Colombia has been unable to materialize this dream. A particular injustice occur in relation to Chocó, whose legal economy revolves around mining. The central government turns down project after project under the argument of environmental restrictions.
The solutions proposed by the central government, i.e., the promotion of tourism and/or the increase of agricultural input does not present a realistic alternative to replace the production of gold and platinum.
Legal gold production in Chocó was reported to be 144 thousand ounces in 2022, which is a very low output given that the alluvial deposits are calculated to exceed 30 million ounces. Surprisingly, 90% of this gold-rich alluvium is within the area designated as a forest reserve. This fact highlights the contradiction between resource abundance and legal restrictions, emphasizing the critical need to facilitate a more equitable and sustainable exploitation of the mining resources.
The imposition of the forest reserve, covering 76% of the department of Chocó, initially aimed to preserve and manage forest resources. However, inadvertently, the Second Law has become an instrument that significantly limits the possibilities of legal mining activities in Chocó. The inefficiency of legal mechanisms to exclude or eliminate areas from the forest reserve has created significant obstacles for communities to engage in legal mining. On the other hand, the recognition of communal land was a significant step toward legitimizing the rights of local communities over their territories, but it did not immediately translate into a substantial improvement in economic conditions in Chocó.
Page updated
Report abuse