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President elect, Iván Duque, appointed Ricardo Lozano as the new head of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente).

Australia’s ambassador in Colombia, Sophie Davies, spoke about the investments that her country will make in the national industry.

Industry companies took the stage at this year’s International Environment Fair (FIMA), to talk about their challenges and accomplishments in their areas of influence.

Oil companies have to face many challenges to operate in Colombia, while other countries in the region open their doors with attractive conditions and it seems like Mexico is attracting the interest of several companies operating in Colombia.

The Colombian government created the ‘Green Growth Mission’ to create sustainable development. Brice Lalonde, Ex-Minister of the Environment in France and Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, spoke about the country’s challenges in this area.

Former Minister of Mines and Energy (MinMinas), Luis Gilberto Murillo, spoke about what MinMinas and other environmental entities have asked Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to do to meet safety standards. The development of these and more stories in our periodic Eco summary.

Colombia is regulating the development of extractive activities in natural areas. The Senate, in extraordinary session, ruled on a new law that seeks to protect the páramos (high mountain tundra) of the country.

We have been very concerned about the civil disobedience caused by the ANH’s seismic investigation in Boyacá. There was a public hearing last Friday to discuss the situation and well-known industry figure, Jaime Checa attended. He brought back this report (with photos) which only deepens our concern.

Recently, we published an article about the mining industry in Cundinamarca. The departmental Controller was concerned that environmental licenses were not be properly monitored. A reader reacted to the article with an interesting recommendation and that got me thinking about the challenges of implementing it.

The governor of Boyacá, Carlos Amaya, called for the temporary and immediate suspension of a contract for an alleged fracking project in the department, and asked the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) to educate the community about it.