The Amazon rainforest is the world’s large tropical rainforest, covering roughly 2.7 million square miles. It comprises more than half of the world’s remaining rainforests. It is crisscrossed by thousands of rivers, including the huge Amazon River, and is famed for its biodiversity. It is comparable in size to the United States and extends into nine South American countries. Most of it is in Brazil. Colombia contains only a small fraction of the Amazon rainforest – roughly 6% of it – but the rainforest there makes up 40% of the country.
In an effort to protect its biodiversity in the face of climate change, Colombia has decided to ban all new mining and oil projects in their portion of the Amazon rainforest. The plan is to turn the area into a reserve for renewable natural resources.
Colombia announced the decision during the COP30 climate conference. This action makes Colombia the first and only one of the nine Amazon rainforest countries to safeguard the entirety of the rainforest within its borders.
Before going into effect, there is still red tape to be overcome involving consultation with local groups. Among other things, the development ban will impact the lives of 566 indigenous communities that call the area home.
As a result of the Colombian decision, 43 oil projects and 286 mining project applications have been paused indefinitely. Colombia’s minister of environment and sustainable development called upon the leaders of neighboring countries to create an “Amazon Alliance for Life” that would help to protect the rainforest.
