Global Changemakers

What do Colombians think climate change refers to? Answers can be very different depending on whether we ask people on the Pacific coast, or the Caribbean coast, or in the Andes, the Amazon or Bogotá. Perceptions about climate change are diverse and depend on the territory the question is asked. I posed this question to a peasant living in the high mountains, at 3000m altitude, and this person responded to me by saying that climate change is when you go down the mountain and then the weather feels warmer. Indeed, as Colombia is located in the equatorial region, the temperature depends on the altitude at which you find yourself; it does not strictly depend on the seasons like in Northern or Southern territories. But what this peasant said to me is not really linked with climate change: it is just a common sense answer to a combination of words: climate and change. But in the Andes, another peasant told me that climate change refers to an increasing temperature of the earth because the days are hotter than they were years ago.

In Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, I have been asking the same question: what do you think climate change is? I asked about one hundred people and I can tell you how “biodiverse” the answers were.  I will give you a few examples. When people told me that climate change is caused by human activity and also by the earth’s natural changes, they often identified pollution, industries and the lack of waste management as the primary causes of climate change. Other people told me that ozone layer damage, radioactivity and technological radiation are also generating climate change, although these are not scientifically proven causes of this phenomenon. Others just do not know what it is, and have never heard about it. Maybe the statement that I most heard during this inquiry, of course among those who think they know about climate change, was that life in the future will be severely harmed and that the next generations will find life much harder. By way of conclusion, the hundred people I talked to believe that climate change exists; they know more about the consequences than the causes; and they have little information about how to reduce it.

Now let’s take a look at what the scientific and government community state about climate change in Colombia. Currently, the country is responsible for 0.35% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and this figure is rising every year. Colombia’s emissions are low on the global scale, but this country is considered one of the most vulnerable to suffering the consequences of climate change in Latin America. The director of IDEAM, Colombia’s public environmental, hydrological and climate research centre says that “extreme events are increasing in Latin America and the warming of the Pacific Ocean directly influences Colombia: indeed, it is much more important in this country than in any other of the region”.

In recent years, the climate phenomenon “El Niño” (the boy) and “La Niña” (the girl) have been – and remain – extreme events, which have produced variations in temperature, humidity, rainfall (both a rise and fall).  And they are becoming more frequent too, unlike how they were before.  According to the Mortality Risk Index 2009, Colombia has the third highest risk mortality rate caused by natural disasters in the world, after Bangladesh and China. A World Bank study on Latin America and the Caribbean (2009) identified four “hot spots”, or vulnerable ecosystems, in the region, and three of them are located in Colombia (the Caribbean, the Andes and the Amazon).

As a consequence, climate change in Colombia is having multiple impacts in the country: it is increasing humanitarian emergencies due to floods, causing landslides, increasing the rate and incidence of diseases, affecting food security and access to clean water, exacerbating poverty and limiting development. Furthermore, foreseen climate change impacts in future years predict an increase in temperature over the Andes and the Caribbean (2 to 4 degrees); a decrease in precipitation in the Andes region; and more extreme weather events, inducing floods, heat waves.  An escalation in conflicts over access to natural resources, and the reduction of areas with strategic ecosystems (such as glaciers and páramos), are also predicted.

In this context, Colombia has to prioritize its adaptation to climate change, and is pointing its efforts towards enhancing measures to reduce vulnerability in facing climate change risks. Colombia’s Government, and the international cooperation partners with which it works, are already developing different kinds of programs, some of them looking to work directly with populations. In July 2009, the World Bank identified the most successful integrated national adaptation project – INAP – in the world, which is located just 60km from Bogota in the high mountains.

During the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009, COP 15, where world countries will discuss the future of the Kyoto Protocol, Colombia is looking to enhance the flow of funds for adaptation and protected areas. There is still a long way to go in order to achieve sustainable goals. Communication and education about climate change (causes, consequences and actions to reduce it) is a must: media, government and other actors should all contribute. On the other hand, local successful experiences shed light on truthful solutions.

Me during the climate change inquiry in the Colombian Andes, rural side.

The amazing “paramos” are unique ecosystems in the Andes and only exist in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru. They give about 70% of water supply for Colombia.
 

Air view of the Choco region, one of the Latin American “hot spots” located in Colombia. Tropical forest and exuberant biodiversity composes contrasting landscapes in this region.


Bogota has 8 million inhabitants. In this picture only the south of the city, which receives every day population coming from different corners of the country. In this part of Bogota, precarious constructions can be affected severely landslides and floods.