In the history of the last decades around the armed conflict that has arisen in Colombia, countless damages have been generated in several aspects, which has been reflected in different ways. One of these is the damage to the environment through illegal activities that armed groups have been carrying out, such as illegal mining, blowing up petroleum pipelines and aggressive expansion of deforestation by construction of drug laboratories, among others.
Bearing in mind these problems, it is of great importance to recover and preserve natural resources in the national territory, but this process faces many obstacles and challenges, which has generated a lot of uncertainty, despite the efforts to fight in environmental care.
That is why Colombian National Army has focused part of its military operations on the care and conservation of the environment, continuously fighting against different factors, such as environmental crimes caused by common crime or organized armed groups, complying with Law 99 of 1993 article 103, where it is said that the Military Forces will ensure throughout the national territory the protection and defense of the environment and renewable natural resources and compliance with the rules issued in order to protect the natural heritage of the nation, as a comprehensive element of national sovereignty.
In 2024, the soldiers have participated in an important way in the extinction of forest fires in the different places of the national territory as a result of the effects of the El Niño phenomenon and negative actions by people, where the institution counts 33 interventions with 792 men.
Additionally, the implementation of green area beautification activities in several municipalities and ten water source cleaning activities, in addition to awareness campaigns and risk management activities carried out within military units, where environmental guidelines are issued with the support of regional authorities.
In addition to these efforts, the branch has achieved relevant results against those who seek to hit the country's resources, for example there are 58 arrests for environmental crimes; in the same way it has conducted the planting of 1,315,027 trees and the finding and release of 673 specimens of wildlife.
Source: Press - Headquarters of the General Staff of Operations.
