News and AnalysIs for

The granting of an environmental license for production blocks in the north of the Caquetá Department has local authorities, communities and press sounding the alarm and now a committee has been formed to address production in the area.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), through its laboratories with the Colombian Petroleum Institute (ICP) is launching a study of Bogotá’s air quality, while the Senate has voted to protect wetlands and high mountain tundra. These and other environmental stories in our periodic summary.

Illegal mining and the clearing of lands for grazing has been fingered as a main cause for deforestation, while in Casanare a number of community conflicts are brewing over environmental issues. These and other environmental stories in our periodic summary.

A group of eight NGOs present in the Paris Climate Change Summit have called on Latin American countries to prohibit fracking due to its alleged environmental impact and potential role in speeding global warming.

A magistrate in Putumayo has filed a case with the Constitutional Court which alleges that an indigenous community (Awá) in the department has not received their due rights and called for E&P activities to be halted.

A report reveals that of Colombia’s productive sectors, energy and agriculture are neck-and-neck over who produces the most emissions, meanwhile Ecopetrol and Pacific invest in conservation initiatives. These and other environmental stories in our periodic summary.

A community in the Sogamoso Municipality, Boyacá claims that a seismic campaign in 2009 and 2010 has left a number of buildings cracked, including the local church, forcing residents out of their homes and affecting nearly 3,000 people.

Improvised, illegal and dangerous valves installed along Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) pipelines are causing it to lose a growing amount of crude, also resulting in risks of severe environmental damage.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has reported advances in its Environmental Management Plan for Education and Environmental Culture in Middle Magdalena, and a bill has been submitted to establish environmental royalties. These and other stories related to the environment in our periodic summary.

The Casanare Departmental government and local authorities held a roundtable discussion on plans to establish environmental protections in the wetlands near the La Cristalina Lagoon and Paz de Ariporo, parts of which include the Llanos 62 production block.