With the purpose of presenting the results of the Campaign Artemisa, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Environment, together with other authorities, civil and environmental, a follow-up meeting took place this Thursday. There coordinated operations whose purpose is to combat deforestation in Colombia, and to counter the crimes that attack against the environment, were planned.
The Deputy Minister of Defense for Strategy and planning, Jairo García, said: “the work we are conducting is essential for the Artemisa campaign to continue leaving positive results. We continue to strengthen in a joint and coordinated manner with the National Police, the military forces and the Attorney General's Office, for the control and prosecution of those responsible for deforestation in Colombia”.
Thanks to nine operations carried out by the Military Forces throughout the country as part of the Artemisa campaign, more than 14,000 hectares of forest have been recovered.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of environmental policies and standardization, Francisco Cruz, said that”we have strategies that bring together different operations to fight deforestation, such as the control of illegality, new legislation, fire monitoring and social investment. However, in order to continue to deal with deforestation, we need to strengthen that joint work with all the authorities of the departments where the current deforestation actions are taking place."
During the meeting, especial attention was given to the deforestation of the Serranía de San Lucas, which includes the Departments of Antioquia, Bolivar and Santander, a natural reserve of great importance for the environmental heritage of the country, now hit in some regions by deforestation.
Finally, local and regional authorities reaffirmed their commitment and support to the campaign and other strategies of the National Government to fight against deforestation, among them, the Autonomous Regional Corporation for the Defence of the Meseta of Bucaramanga (CDMB), the Corporación Autónoma de Santander (CAS), the Corporación Autónoma Regional del Sur de Bolívar (CSB) and the mayors of the municipalities de Bolivar of San Pablo, Cantagallo and Santa Rosa in the South.
Source: Defence Sector Communications Office-Ministry of National Defence
