17/12/2025
Inspiring things happening in Columbia 🫶🌍🕊️
Colombia’s decision to ban all new oil and mining projects across its Amazon rainforest marks a major shift in regional conservation.
The move pauses 43 oil projects and 286 mining applications across more than 186,000 square miles of biodiverse forest. Leaders, including environment minister Irene Vélez Torres, describe the Amazon as a shared system that demands collective responsibility.
Colombia aims to designate the entire region as a renewable natural resource reserve, positioning itself as the first Amazon nation to protect its full forest territory from extractive expansion.
The plan, however, must pass through a mandatory consultation process with 566 Indigenous communities whose lives, governance rights, and ancestral territories are directly tied to the land. Their involvement will determine the path forward.
If implemented, the ban could help protect endangered species, stabilize regional climate systems, and reduce pressures that drive deforestation. It also sets a precedent that other Amazon countries will likely watch closely.
Source: Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development – Amazon Protection Initiative