The mayor, joined by other locals, went to Bogota on Thursday to urge “the Ministry of Environment to revise the license and revoke it because it damages the biodiversity in La Macarena and nearby areas.” The news that environmental authority ANLA had granted permission for fracking activities in the area were received with shock, not just by the locals, but also ecotourism operators who slowly have been able to bring tourists to one of Colombia’s most beautiful sites. The area’s inhabitants are so sensitive about the natural treasure in their backyard that only limited amounts of tourists are allowed to visit the river per day and even littering is strictly prohibited. The mayor is fearful of fracking because “this could cause the death of species and the biodiversity in the area.” It’s this foreign investment that is now clashing with the locals’ economy and environment.Īccording to the mayor, Hupecol wants to drill 150 exploration holes near the springs of the Duda, Guayabero and Lozada rivers that join to form the Caño Cristales river. While considered virtually a natural wonder, the Macarena municipality is also full of oil, Colombia’s most important export products and one of the country’s primary recipients of foreign investment. “We in the Macarena have been preparing for 15 years to become a tourist and ecological zone,” Mayor Ismael Medellin told Caracol Radio. The area was virtually inaccessible for years because of the country’s armed conflict, but was reopened up for the public in 2009 after which locals slowly began receiving visitors. With increased security over the years, tourism to the area has grown and La Macarena village has developed it’s own tourism industry which is an invaluable source of income for the local guides and hotels that we work with,” tourism operator Mark Genney told Colombia Reports. “Caño Cristales is a world famous destination of outstanding natural beauty. While one of the country’s most beautiful rivers, the Caño Cristales is also unique because it lies on the frontier of the Andes mountain range, the Amazon forest and Colombia’s eastern plains. The Caño Cristales is known as the “river of five colors” due to the combination of the vivid red and green flora and the deep gold, black, and olive green of the riverbed. It’s in this park where three rivers come together to form the Caño Cristales river. The controversy broke after the mayor of La Macarena, a municipality in the center of Colombia, said that the country’s environmental authority allowed oil company Hupecol to carry out exploratory fracking activities near the Serrania de la Macarena National Park. Locals and Colombia tourism operators are furious after finding out the subsidiary of a US oil company is allowed to explore fracking possibilities near the springs of the Caño Cristales river, one of the country’s most unique ecosystems.
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