An agreement to restore the impacted area and protection measures to avoid the expansion of the agricultural frontier, could redeem a project to grow Hass avocado for export purposes in Acevedo.
Ricardo Areiza
The environmental controversy caused a year ago by the large-scale cultivation of Hass avocado in Acevedo (Huila), remained for now , seems to be settled.
Private investors, owners of the Hass Company and Colombia Paradise SAS, started the project to grow Hass avocado, the second most desired product in the international market, expanding , without permission, the agricultural frontier.
The extensive commercial plantation for export purposes caused controversy with the communities and environmental leaders because it began in a strategic zone of environmental protection, without the full of legal requirements.
The CAM identified in the El Silencio village, the felling of approximately two hectares ctáreas, in the protective strip of the La Marimba creek, the main supply source of the Santa Ana regional aqueduct.
On the property, trees of species such as jiquimillo, yarumo, myrtle, pink cedar and mountain apple tree. Also native shrubs.
According to the environmental entity there was a “huge and disproportionate felling of native and endemic trees of the region” in the El Silencio village. In addition, affectation by poisoning of birds, fish and other endemic aquatic species of the ecosystem.
In addition, contamination of streams, modification of the natural habitat of flora and fauna, transformation of the landscape territory of the region and alteration of hydrology.
To start the project, the two companies opened highways and bridle and pedestrian paths without respecting the rounds of water sources, there was extraction of resources, forest exploitation and use of water sources without any environmental licensing, which represent environmental offenses, subject to a sanctioning process.
“By eradicating the stubble and cutting down the trees that are part of the natural reserve affect the water sources that supply water to the aqueducts of the villages La Unión, Cristo Rey, La Victoria, La Marimba, Corinto, Los Ángeles and El Diviso ”, the technical report reviewed.
Productive bet
The measure a surprised entrepreneurs as well. The Hass avocado was consolidated last year as the second agricultural export product. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, last year it achieved foreign sales of more than 144 million dollars, the highest in history, with 4.9 percent of total non-traditional exports in the country.
Between January and March 2021 this product grew more than 90 percent compared to the same period in 2020. Sales reached 64.2 million dollars. In the country there are 34,030 hectares planted with avocado, of which 26,045 hectares are of the Hass variety. In Huila, green fever was also uncovered.
According to the plaintiff, Adadier Perdomo Urquina, because it is a protected area, it is not possible to establish large-scale avocado plantations, since the damage They are originating in the Integrated Regional District of Peñas Blancas in the municipality of Acevedo.
Suspension
With the technical report, on August 12, 2020, the territorial director of the CAM, Carlos Andrés González, suspended project activities and ordered the businessmen to carry out restoration activities in the impacted area.
He also ordered the company Colombia Paradise SAS and the businessman Guillermo Melo, to refrain from changing the forest for productive systems, ordered the establishment of protective plant covers and prohibited them from expanding the agricultural frontier within of the intervened property.
However, these measures, a year later, according to the lawyer, Adadier Perdomo Urquina, have not been fulfilled and the activities were extended to another three properties, aggravating the environmental problem.
Perdomo Urquina, required the CAM to make the precautionary measures effective, which in their opinion, they failed to stop the environmental impact.
On August 11, 2021, the Administrative Court of Huila denied the enforcement action. Now, the State Council has just confirmed this measure.
On the other hand, the environmental authority thinks otherwise. Not only was the expansion of the area stopped, but a collective agreement was reached.
The agreements
The CAM in exercise of its environmental monitoring, control and defense authority of the environment, carried out an inspection last May 20 where it was confirmed that the issue was not corrected.
However, it reached an agreement to facilitate extensive cultivation, without affecting the reserve area.
The agreement was signed with the owners Colombia Paradise and Manar Fruit in the presence of the Acevedo Personería, environmental organizations, the National Police, the Police Inspectorate, the legal representatives of the Santa Ana, La Victoria, La Unión and Cristo Rey local aqueducts, and Los Ángeles-El Diviso, San José de Corinto, La Marimba and community leaders.
The companies Colombia Paradise and Manar Fruit pledged to respect the protective forest area of streams, water sources and continuous drainage from go from the minimum flood quota 30 meters and minimum 100 meters around for springs.
Also to the delimitation, reforestation and restoration of the protective zone of the water sources and springs and to process and Obtain water concession permits, forest use permits, channel occupancy permits, discharges and others that are required to legally carry out the activity.
The two companies undertook to implement and put into good operation the treatment system for domestic wastewater and the proper disposal of solid waste derived from productive activity.
Among the commitments it was stated that the two companies will conserve wildlife present in the area, especially churucos and howler monkeys.
In this same sense, they must build structures that allow pedestrian passage for people and animals without disturbing the bodies of water; suspend the discharges (gray water) evidenced in the area as well as the moyas or excavations carried out in continuous drains and patrol areas.
They will also have to suspend the artificial drains that flow upstream of the intake and on water sources, eradicate agro-input mixing zones located in areas that protect water sources, continuous drainage and sources. Finally, build a station on food safety in the Ecological Path of Environmental Interpretation of the Colombian Massif, as a scenario of environmental education.
Due to possible infractions, on July 13, 2021, a sanctioning process was activated environmental (Order 034 of July 13, 2021) which is pending.
damage to natural resources and as a consequence the corresponding sanctions will be imposed “, specified the territorial director, Carlos Andrés González.
The official stated that some of the orders imposed in the preventive measure They are not of immediate execution, but require time to do so, as is the case of the plant restoration of the intervened areas, an activity that necessarily entails a certain period for their verification.
Pact or fulfilled
For its part, the legal representative of the company, denied the environmental effects. “The company is dedicated to legal crops within the Colombian regulations and they carry out projects aimed at the conservation and protection of the environment,” he stated. the recommendations and orders issued by the environmental authority and any expansion of the agricultural frontier was frozen.
The area has been physically delimited with a sustainability design and with cartographic tools for identification and conservation of these areas.
“Therefore, he added, it has been verified by the different environmental authorities, entities and communities, that the forest has not been affected, to replace the use of the land with agricultural activities. ”
The precautionary measure
Judge José Miller Lugo considered that the preventive measure environmental law issued by the CAM (Resolution No. 1427 of 2020) has not been breached, and is still in force.
Also co n affirmed that the territorial management is advancing the follow-up and control actions on actions carried out by the Hass Colombia Paradise SAS Company
He estimated that in the event of a violation of natural resources they should be ventilated through the action popular and not a compliance action.
The measure was confirmed in second instance by the Council of State.
Judge Rocío Araujo Oñate, concluded that the precautionary measure does not contain an imperative and unobjectionable mandate by the CAM.
On the contrary, it was issued by the territorial directorate in the ongoing administrative procedure that began the sanctioning process environmental.
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