EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING IN THE COLOMBIAN PARAMOS

QUESTION

How global warming has affected the paramos in Colombia in the last 50 years.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Colombia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and, as various studies indicate (IDEAM,
Ministry of the Environment and United Nations Development Programme, 2001 and 2002), with an
accelerated increase in the global temperature of the planet, its effects will be felt at the social,
economic and environmental levels. The Andean paramos are of fundamental importance to millions of
people. They are the habitats in which endemic species and a great biological diversity are found,
ecosystems capable of providing fundamental environmental services, spaces of cultural importance for
native and rural peoples, among other aspects. Consequently, it is important to be able to establish how
global warming has affected the paramos in Colombia in the last 50 years.

OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVE.
To analyse the impact of global warming on the Colombian paramos during the last 50 years.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE.
To establish how the quality of life of the flora, fauna and populations that inhabit the Colombian
paramos has been affected in the last 50 years.

JUSTIFICATION

The present work is born from the concern for climate change and its effects, especially the
environmental changes that have suffered the Colombian paramos in the course of the last 50 years. The
importance of this work lies in the recognition of the current situation of the paramos and how global
warming affects their deterioration. analyze the past and present situation of the paramos, on the basis
of studies carried out by different national and international entities and on the basis of this analysis we
will provide the possible solutions to the problem or the recommendations that we can make with
regard to the subject by giving the population the opportunity to contribute to the preservation of these
ecosystems.

STATE OF ART (SoTA)

The paramos have been seriously affected by different environmental causes but mainly by global
warming and this is what we will develop our work on, an aspect that has been the subject of discussion
by different entities and organizations of the national order such as:
1. The Ministry of the Environment.
2. IDEAM (Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies).
3. CAR (Regional Autonomous Corporations).
As well as non-governmental organizations such as:
1. Greenpeace Colombia.
2. IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

In the report made by Greenpeace called climate change: black future for the paramos concluded that
the environmental damage that the moors have suffered as a result of climate change are irreversible
damage this despite the fact that Colombia only contributes 0,35% of greenhouse gases, meaning it is
not directly responsible for global warming. the paramos are the most affected ecosystems with 75%
suffering the serious and harmful consequences of this problem that in the case of Colombia is reflected
in the increase in rainfall cycles and the increase in temperature thus altering the water cycle that is
carried out in these high mountain ecosystems.

The same research makes a series of recommendations that include halting deforestation, increasing
public and private funding to prevent and address climate change, adopt mitigation actions in developing
countries and especially for Colombia makes the recommendation to ensure resources to protect the
ecosystems most susceptible to global warming such as the paramos.
On the other hand, an investigation conducted and published by IDEAM, the ministry of environment
and the united nations for the development concludes that our country is highly vulnerable to the
impacts of global warming and climate change which will bring consequences besides social and
economic environmental.

The Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development launched a project in 2002 entitled
“Programme for the Sustainable Management and Restoration of Colombian High Mountain
Ecosystems”, in which, together with various public and private institutions, outlines some measures and
possible public policies to face the future damage and risks suffered by the Colombian moors.

The program emphasizes, on the one hand, the functionalities that the moors have in terms of services
and goods (natural function and human use), and on the other hand, in the measures that must be taken
so that these ecosystems can be used in a sustainable way.

Among the causes of damage on the moors are identified mainly two general, the increase in global
temperature and the increase of greenhouse gases (CO2) by 28%. This increase affects in terms of
extension and storage capacity, regulation and water supply. As causes of damage, caused directly by the
use without any regulation or limitation, the project identifies the following activities: Electricity
generation, water exploitation, misdirected tourism, accelerated urbanization, agriculture and livestock
in this type of ecosystems, mining and illicit crops.

In social and historical terms, the program concludes that the abuse in the use of the moors, is a
consequence of the country’s economic and political model, and its international dependence. Also, for
that year can be evidenced an incipient effort to touch environmental issues from the institutionality,
therefore, the proposed actions are aimed at the production of knowledge on the moors and the
intention to create a “normative and legal floor”.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The first category or central concept that we have proposed to define is that of "Páramo", since it is,
from an investigative perspective, our object of study. From this word, which designates materially a
specific ecosystem; with specific natural conditions and a specific history (Colombian paramos), we
believe, therefore, that it will be easier for us to deploy the following concepts: Environment, climate
change, pollution and risks.

We emphasize the contextual and historical character of our research, given that the Colombian
wastelands have suffered changes and damages that are typical of the region in which we live, and that
places us in a different way if we compare them with other wastelands of the world in terms of
resources, natural wealth, etc.

In terms of theories that allow us to analyze our case, we can observe that there are two general
perspectives, and that are opposed to each other. On the one hand we have the environmental theory of
sustainable development, which broadly proposes that there is the possibility of a development of the
current economic system in an environmentally friendly way. On the other hand, we have the
environmental theory of risk, which is a little more 'critical' than the previous one and emphasizes the
future dangers that we have to stop, and ecosystems in general, if we follow this model of 'mining' and
exploitation of resources.

Different research has been carried out that addresses the issue of global warming and its consequences
for Colombian ecosystems, mainly the paramos. Research such as that prepared by Greenpeace
Colombia that establishes how global warming added to other aspects ( many of them caused by man)
have attenuated the main function of these ecosystems ( regulation of the water cycle) as well as
affecting the quality of life of the species that inhabit there in this sense the animals as the paramos
disappear are forced to relocate to a higher place on the paramo.

But as climate change and man-made changes do not stop this process is constant and increasingly
accelerated especially since the intervention of humans in these territories, All this added to the fragility
of the soil of the paramos that being constituted in 70% of water has little or no resilience capacity an
example of this is the grazing of livestock since the trampling of animals compacts the soil and modifies
the characteristics of This prevents it from performing the function of being water retainer.

In this sense the research is assertive because it addresses the factors that contribute to the
deterioration of the paramos, but it does not establish in a precise way the changes that have occurred
in the last 50 years which is what our research aims to make known, Although it does not directly
address the issue, it reveals the factors that lead to the deterioration of the high mountain ecosystem
( paramo) factors that we can relate to what we show in our research.
Articles 8, 58, 79, 80, 333 and 334 of the 1991 Constitution provide the legal framework for the
protection of the environment in our country. In particular the páramos are protected by the law 99 of
1993 by means of which the ministry of the environment is created (today ministry of the environment
and development) This is responsible for managing the resources allocated to the environment and
everything related to the country’s biodiversity. This Ministry establishes the national environmental
system SINA and other provisions are laid down in the fourth paragraph of article 1: "The wastelands,
subprimes, water sources and aquifer recharge zones will be subject to special protection," which served
as a precedent for other judicial entities in the country to pronounce in favor of the Colombian paramos.
Entities such as the Constitutional Court that has promulgated through its magistrates different
sentences in favor of the conservation and care of the paramos in our country.

In the research developed by Laura Natalia Garavito corner she determines the factors that have
contributed to the deterioration and vulnerability of these Colombian ecosystems and is evidenced
mainly in the water process of which the paramo is responsable: "due to the intensification of agriculture
(mainly potato and poppy cultivation), livestock, mining, indiscriminate logging, uncontrolled use of wild
flora and fauna, erosion by runoff, the elimination of the water retention capacity of the paramo, the
extinction of endemic species, the contamination with solid and liquid residues by fertilizers and
herbicides, soil deterioration and the loss of biodiversity" These events have been evident throughout
our research and are supported by other research that we have related in this project.

The relevance of global warming is that it intensifies the consequences of man-made damage and delays
or completely prevents the recovery of those effects that are characteristic of the Colombian paramos.
This has been the product of the economic revolution and foreign investment that the country has
received for more than 50 years, which means that it has to exploit new areas to meet the needs of
Colombians and some other countries involved in indirect and sometimes direct way in these processes
of damage to the high mountain ecosystem or paramo.
DEVELOPMENT OF (QUESTION) HYPOTHESIS.

Based on what has been developed in the investigation and what we have been able to recover from
other investigations that we have taken as a reference, if the necessary measures for the conservation
and care of these ecosystems are not taken, the damage to the paramos in the coming years will become
more intense and will have a greater impact on soil stability, the flora and fauna of these important
Colombian conservation areas.

In our research we consider of importance the fulfillment of the law 1930 of 2018 in fulfillment of its
articles there described, Its article 2 and its 8 principles are of great importance because it is in these that
the basis of the importance of the promulgation and fulfillment of this placing the paramos as
indispensable beings for life in general (principle n° 2) and the special protection to be afforded to them
for this reason (principle no°1). In this law actors and responsible for their care are placed in its chapter 2
article 4° it is the Ministry of Environment and Development that will carry out the investigation and
delimitation corresponding to each case in particular in accordance with the Ministry of Environment
and Development.
As provided for and clarified, the 13 restrictions to be taken into account for their protection (Article 5°)
and the competent authorities are placed in place for their supervision and preventive measures in case
these restrictions are violated (paragraph 3) and involves citizen participation at the head of its
governance as an important part of its protection (article 6° paragraph 2) For this point priority will be
given in some competences to the people native of these paramos as it is to be managers of paramos
and development of integral management chapter 3 article 16 paragraph 1. This same law involves the
academy where they were responsible for their monitoring, research and the creation of plans that the
Ministry of the Environment will be responsible for updating every 5 years paragraph 6° and its article
number 11 is deepened giving as main support centers research institutes agricultural sector, the mining-
energy sector and the National Environmental System, academia and civil society organizations. And in
its article 19° where Creating a society among the inhabitants organizations and study centers as
promulgated in its article 17 Ministry of Education, with coordination of the Ministry of Environment
Sustainable Development, encourage the promotion of environmental education in educational
institutions in accordance with their context.

It also has a method of financing for the implementation of control prevention and repair of any plan
that contributes to the care of the paramos and of the expenses that are required in its chapter number
4 as it is also described its method of collection and its subsequent execution.

The norms are broad regarding the conservation and protection of the Colombian paramos, but for
issues such as corruption and the armed conflict they are not executed in a proper way, Also a long-term
solution is to count on the support and international experience of countries that have led laws, reforms
and have provided the economic, scientific and ethical resources to protect their ecosystems and have
been successful.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.

The results obtained from the research turn out to be quite evident about what was wanted to
demonstrate since we proposed the research and was to see how global warming has affected the
Colombian paramos during the last 50 years.

Through other research such as that developed by Greenpeace Colombia we can establish the
damage to these ecosystems come mostly from sources other than those of global warming itself
(mining, livestock, agriculture, human settlements, deforestation, etc.) which seems to be contrary to
what we propose, but the result of global warming on these effects is their intensification and greater
affectation for example the alteration of the water process that takes place in the paramos or
consider the gradual rise of the temperature of the earth that produces the greenhouse effect which
brings with it further accumulation of gases in the atmosphere especially Co2. This increase in
temperature alters the climatic phenomena typical of the paramo by increasing its temperature and
thus affecting the natural processes that take place in them, altering its physical characteristics
(dryness and soil damage) in and in this order of ideas then global warming is a "catalyst" that favors
the deterioration of the Colombian paramos.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

During the investigation, a large number of regulations, laws, decrees, resolutions have been issued
by different governmental entities and the different branches of the legislative branch of the country,
which is insignificant because they are not complied with. All this legislation remained in the paper or
simply the entities in charge of its fulfillment do not give effect to them by different factors among
them the lack of trained personnel, as well as the lack of resources for the execution and
implementation of different strategies in favor of the protection and conservation of the Colombian
paramos that according to our political constitution of 1991 are ecosystems of great importance and
preservation.

The negative impact and damage that the paramos have suffered during the last 50 years have been
caused mainly by man and the activities that he develops in these areas, global warming plays a role
of catalyst and enhancer of these damages, these greenhouse products (the main consequence of
global warming) are also intensifying.

The investigations carried out in the country in defence of the paramos to promote their conservation
and recovery are carried out to a large extent by non-governmental entities and natural persons,
concerned about the accumulated deterioration in these ecosystems who through what they present
intend to provide solutions and demonstrate that it is possible to start a recovery of the paramos.
However, the implementation of these ideas is virtually non-existent due to a lack of resources and
little support from the government.

Product of this investigation we extend a recommendation addressed to the central government in

head of the president of the republic and the legislative power asking them to increase in the annual
budget the items for the development and the execution of projects of nature the conservation and
restoration of all the Colombian ecosystems, especially the paramos that are indispensable for our
existence as the largest reservoirs of water and the main managers of the water cycle.

In the same way, the economic and human resources must be approved and disbursed to initiate a
process of awareness and training for the inhabitants of these territories who carry out activities
harmful to the paramo, often due to lack of knowledge and why they don’t know about the size of the
territory they live in.

Finally, from the Congress of the Republic must originate laws and different norms that seek a strict
regulation for the mining industries that exercise activities of extraction of resources in the paramos,
they must be demanding and very controlling of these activities in order to comply fully with the
standards.